Three new mononuclear heteroleptic copper(i) halide complexes, [CuL(PPh3)(2)X] (X = Cl, Br, I), based on 3-phenyl-5-(pyridin-4-yl)-1,2,4-triazole (L) and triphenylphosphine (PPh3) ligands, have been prepared by reaction of CuX (X = Cl, Br, I), L and PPh3 in a molar ratio of 1 : 1 : 2 in MeCN solutions. The synthesized complexes exhibit blue light emission in solutions and bright green emission in the crystal state with quantum yields of up to 100%. The luminescence decay analysis and density functional theory calculations revealed that the emission of solid samples at room temperature corresponds to the thermally activated delayed fluorescence, while that at 77 K is assigned to phosphorescence. Utilizing the studied complexes in OLED heterostructures resulted in high-performing green-emitting devices with an external quantum efficiency of up to 13.4%.
Funding Agencies|Russian Science Foundation [22-73-00043]; Carl Tryggers Stiftelse (Sweden) [CTS 21:1430]; Swedish Research Council [2020-04600]; National Supercomputer Centre (NSC) [NAISS 2023/5-77]; Swedish Research Council [2022-06725]