Geometric Accommodation of Atom Repulsions Enables Sub‐10 nm Ultra‐Narrowband Multi‐Resonance Blue Emitters

Narrowband multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitters are pivotal for high-color-purity organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), yet further bandwidth narrowing typically necessitates extended molecular rigidity that compromises synthetic accessibility and device compatibility. Herein, we report a geometric accommodation strategy to silence vibronic broadening by replacing peripheral six-membered arenes with compact five-membered thiophenes. This geometrically adaptive modification alleviates steric H···H repulsion, planarizes the MR skeleton, and selectively suppresses low-frequency deformation modes. Crucially, the photophysically optimal α-borylated topology aligns with the intrinsic regioselectivity of electrophilic borylation, enabling concise synthesis. The resulting α-BNTh emitters exhibit intense blue emission with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yields and ultra-narrow full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of 8.7-11.7 nm in solution. This molecular-level spectral sharpening translates effectively to doped films and devices, yielding OLEDs with FWHMs of 8.9-13.1 nm and maximum external quantum efficiencies up to 42.1%. Notably, α-BNTh-CN-based devices achieve a sub-10 nm electroluminescence bandwidth, ranking among the narrowest reported for blue MR-TADF emitters. This work establishes geometric accommodation via heterocycle engineering as a compact, synthetically viable design principle for ultra-narrowband MR emitters.

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Publication Details

Journal
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Published
2026-09-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.8409117
Primary Topic
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Geometric Accommodation of Atom Repulsions Enables Sub‐10 nm Ultra‐Narrowband Multi‐Resonance Blue Emitters

Shengbing Xiao, Ze‐Lin Zhu, Chen Cao, Xiaosong Cao et al.
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
article

Geometric Accommodation of Atom Repulsions Enables Sub‐10 nm Ultra‐Narrowband Multi‐Resonance Blue Emitters

Shengbing Xiao, Ze‐Lin Zhu, Chen Cao, Xiaosong Cao, Jingsheng Miao, Yang Zou, Chuluo Yang, Zhanxiang Chen, Ruijie Ming, Zhuixing Xue
article en

Abstract

Narrowband multi-resonance thermally activated delayed fluorescence (MR-TADF) emitters are pivotal for high-color-purity organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), yet further bandwidth narrowing typically necessitates extended molecular rigidity that compromises synthetic accessibility and device compatibility. Herein, we report a geometric accommodation strategy to silence vibronic broadening by replacing peripheral six-membered arenes with compact five-membered thiophenes. This geometrically adaptive modification alleviates steric H···H repulsion, planarizes the MR skeleton, and selectively suppresses low-frequency deformation modes. Crucially, the photophysically optimal α-borylated topology aligns with the intrinsic regioselectivity of electrophilic borylation, enabling concise synthesis. The resulting α-BNTh emitters exhibit intense blue emission with near-unity photoluminescence quantum yields and ultra-narrow full widths at half maximum (FWHM) of 8.7-11.7 nm in solution. This molecular-level spectral sharpening translates effectively to doped films and devices, yielding OLEDs with FWHMs of 8.9-13.1 nm and maximum external quantum efficiencies up to 42.1%. Notably, α-BNTh-CN-based devices achieve a sub-10 nm electroluminescence bandwidth, ranking among the narrowest reported for blue MR-TADF emitters. This work establishes geometric accommodation via heterocycle engineering as a compact, synthetically viable design principle for ultra-narrowband MR emitters.

Angewandte Chemie International Edition
Shenzhen University (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Sustainable cities and communities
Openalex Percentile: Top 20%
Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research
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