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Triboron Multiresonant Emitter With Zigzag B/N Alignment Enables Near-Degenerate Singlet–Triplet States for High-Performance Non-Sensitized OLEDs With Mild Roll-Off

  • Xin Xiong (Co-first Author)
  • , Wei-Xiong Guo (Co-first Author)
  • , Rajat Walia*
  • , Cheng-Xi Li
  • , Xiao-Chun Fan*
  • , Xian-Kai Chen
  • , Yi-Zhong Shi
  • , Jia Yu
  • , Kai Wang*
  • , Xiao-Hong Zhang*
  • *Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

Abstract

Boron/nitrogen-embedded polycyclic frameworks are attractive emitters in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) because they combine narrowband emission with thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Linear extension of multiresonant frameworks with zigzag boron/nitrogen alignment is predicted to enable bathochromic emission, reduced singlet–triplet energy gaps, and enhanced oscillator strengths, yet experimental access to higher-order structures remains challenging. Here we report a site-programmable, stepwise borylation strategy for constructing a triboron DABNA-extended framework with zigzag boron/nitrogen alignment, L-DABNA-TriB. Our combined theoretical and experimental studies reveal how progressive linear extension from mono- to tri-boron frameworks modulates the electronic structure, leading to bandgap narrowing, strengthened radiative transition, and near-degenerate singlet and triplet excited states. Importantly, L-DABNA-TriB in toluene exhibits yellow–orange emission at 559 nm with a narrow full width at half-maximum of 33 nm/0.13 eV, a singlet–triplet energy gap of ca. 4 meV, and a radiative decay rate of 1.5 × 108 s−1. A non-sensitized OLED based on L-DABNA-TriB achieves a maximum external quantum efficiency of 38.0% and retains 35.2% at 1000 cd m−2. This work establishes zigzag boron/nitrogen-aligned linear extension as an effective molecular design strategy for narrowband emitters with efficient exciton harvesting at long wavelengths. © 2026 Wiley-VCH GmbH.
Original languageEnglish
Article numbere74444
Number of pages10
JournalAdvanced Materials
Online published3 Aug 2026
DOIs
Publication statusOnline published - 3 Aug 2026

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. W2511063, 52422309, 52130304, 525B2046, 52373193, 52403240), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (Grant No. BK20230507), Suzhou Key Laboratory of Functional Nano & Soft Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic Materials (Grant No. SZS2023010), Collaborative Innovation Center of Suzhou Nano Science & Technology, the 111 Project. R.W. is deeply thankful to the Jiangsu Province excellent postdoctoral program (2024ZB898) for financial support.

Research Keywords

  • exciton management
  • multi-resonance
  • near-degenerate singlet–triplet states
  • site-programmable borylation
  • zigzag B/N alignment

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