Light-Emitting Element Host-Guest Energy Level Inversion

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Solution Overview

Problem

Conventional light-emitting elements using organic compounds face challenges in achieving high emission efficiency and chemical stability, particularly when using phosphorescent compounds with high emission energy as guest materials, which can lead to unstable host materials and issues like image burn-in and delayed light emission.

Innovation Solution

A light-emitting element structure is developed where a host material with a lower triplet excited state level than the guest material is used, allowing for energy transfer and maintaining chemical stability, with a multicomponent decay curve representing the relative emission intensity and time, ensuring the emission time of the slowest component is less than 15 μsec, thereby achieving high emission efficiency and reliability.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of energy

If a phosphorescent compound with high emission energy is used as a guest material, then emission efficiency is improved, but the host material becomes chemically unstable

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveemission efficiencyVSAvoidchemical stability of host material
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSStability of the object's composition

Solution Approach 1:

The patent changes the energy level parameter relationship between host and guest materials. Conventionally, the host T1 level was required to be higher than the guest T1 level for efficient energy transfer. This patent inverts that relationship, using a host material with a lower T1 level than the guest material, while maintaining chemical stability through careful material selection and energy level matching.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent inverts the conventional energy level arrangement by placing the host material's T1 level below the guest material's T1 level. This reverse configuration allows the system to achieve high emission efficiency through the guest material's phosphorescence while the lower-energy host material remains chemically stable, avoiding the degradation issues that plague conventional high-energy host-guest systems.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #13The other way round (Inversion)

2Loss of energy

If a phosphorescent compound with high emission energy is used as a guest material, then emission efficiency is improved, but image burn-in and delayed light emission occur

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveemission efficiencyVSAvoidresistance to image burn-in and delayed light emission
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of energyVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent modifies the energy level parameters of the host-guest system to resolve the contradiction between emission efficiency and reliability. By setting the host T1 level lower than the guest T1 level and carefully controlling the energy gap, the system achieves efficient phosphorescent emission from the guest while preventing the accumulation of high-energy excitons that cause image burn-in and delayed light emission.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

Solution Approach 2:

The patent converts what would normally be a harmful high-energy state into a beneficial configuration. The guest material's high emission energy, which typically causes instability and burn-in, is harnessed effectively because the lower-energy host material acts as a stable energy reservoir that can transfer energy to the guest without accumulating damaging high-energy excitons itself.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #22Blessing in disguise (Convert harm into benefit)

Applied Scientific Principles

This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.

Function Achieved in This Case

The solution enables a light-emitting element with high emission efficiency and long lifetime, while maintaining chemical stability and preventing image burn-in, by allowing energy transfer from a host material with a lower triplet excited state level to a guest material, even when the guest material has higher emission energy.

Implementation Method 1

a host material with a lower triplet excited state level than the guest material is used, allowing for energy transfer

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectEnergy transfer: Fluorescence

Implementation Method 2

a phosphorescent compound having high emission energy (e.g., a blue phosphorescent compound) is used as a guest material

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectPhosphorescence: Phosphorescence

Implementation Method 3

electrons injected from a cathode and holes injected from an anode are excited in a light emission center of the EL layer, and energy is released and light is emitted when the excited state returns to a ground state

Methodology Applied
Scientific EffectElectroluminescence: Electroluminescence

Data Source

PatentUS9935286B2Light-emitting element, light-emitting device, electronic device, and lighting device
Publication Date: 2018.04.03 SEMICON ENERGY LAB CO LTD
  • US9935286B2 patent drawing
  • US9935286B2 patent drawing
  • US9935286B2 patent drawing

AI summary

A light-emitting element of the present invention can have sufficiently high emission efficiency with a structure including a host material being able to remain chemically stable even if a phosphorescent compound having higher emission energy is used as a guest material. The relation between the relative emission intensity and the emission time of light emission obtained from the host material and the guest material contained in a light-emitting layer is represented by a multicomponent decay curve. The relative emission intensity of the slowest component of the multicomponent decay curve becomes 1/100 for a short time within a range where the slowest component is not interfered with by quenching of the host material (the emission time of the slowest component is preferably less than or equal to 15 μsec); thus, sufficiently high emission efficiency can be obtained.