Heavy Atom Effect of Bromine Significantly Enhances Exciton Utilization of Delayed Fluorescence Luminogens

Raising triplet exciton utilization of pure organic luminescent materials is of significant importance for efficiency advancement of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). Herein, by introducing bromine atom(s) onto a typical molecule (bis­(carbazol-9-yl)-4,5-dicyanobenzene) with thermally activated delayed fluorescence, we demonstrate that the heavy atom effect of bromine can increase spin–orbit coupling and promote the reverse intersystem crossing, which endow the molecules with more distinct delayed fluorescence. In consequence, the triplet exciton utilization is improved greatly with the increase of bromine atoms, affording apparently advanced external quantum efficiencies of OLEDs. Utilizing the enhancement effect of bromine atoms on delayed fluorescence should be a simple and promising design concept for efficient organic luminogens with high exciton utilization.