Optical and electroluminescent properties of 3,4,6-triphenyl-α-pyrone

The optical and electroluminescent properties of 3,4,6-triphenyl-α-pyrone (α-pyrone), a new blue fluoresce dye, are investigated using films prepared by wet and dry process and organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) fabricated with an α-pyrone-emitting layer. The optical properties of α-pyrone are found to be affected by its crystallinity. In the fabrication of OLEDs, wet processing (spin coating) is shown to be more suitable for preparation of the α-pyrone layer than dry processing (thermal evaporation). The best device performance is obtained for a device prepared using poly (n-vinylcarbazole) as the dye host, and a bathocuproine/tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum bilayer as a hole-blocking and carrier-injection layer. The maximum luminance of this device is 3000 cd/m2 at a current density of 0.2 A/cm2, with a current efficiency of 1.8 cd/A at 0.02 A/cm2.