Maleimide–based donor-π-acceptor-π-donor derivative for efficient organic light-emitting diodes

•A highly luminescent material, Cbz-MI with (D-π-A-π-D) backbone has been rationally designed and successfully synthesized.•Cbz-MI exhibit high photoluminescence quantum yield of 0.84 and 0.72 in solution and doped matrix.•Maximum EQE of 2.5% with luminance of 5144 cd/m2 is achieved in organic light-emitting diode.

Herein, we report a highly fluorescent material 3,4-bis(4′-(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-[1,1′-biphenyl]-4-yl)-1-hexyl-1H-pyrrole-2,5-dione (Cbz-MI) based on donor-π-acceptor-π-donor (D-π-A-π-D) backbone. We explored maleimide as an acceptor, phenyl as π-conjugated spacer and carbazole as donor. Photophysical properties revealed high photoluminescence quantum yield of 0.84 and 0.72 in solution and doped matrix, respectively. An encouraging external quantum efficiency of 2.5% with emission peak at 550 nm is achieved utilizing Cbz-MI as emitting layer in doped electroluminescent device structure.

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