Luminescent Coordination and Organometallic Complexes for OLEDs

Abstract

Applications of platinum(II) complexes were mainly focused on anti-cancer drug (such as cisplatin – cis-(NH3)2PtCl2) and catalysis (such as Karstedt’s catalyst – H2PtCl6) before the 1980s. The weakly luminescent or nonemissive nature of the contemporary platinum(II) complexes in solutions at ambient temperature limited the development of phosphorescent platinum(II) complexes for optoelectronics applications. This predicament was overcome by a panel of platinum(II) complexes bearing diimine ligand reported by Maestri et al. in 1985. Following this work, research activity concerning the design and photophysical studies of emissive platinum(II) complexes began booming and many high-performance phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes (P-OLEDs) fabricated with phosphorescent platinum(II) complexes were reported in the last decade. This chapter describes the history and the basic theory of emissive platinum(II) complexes, including the development of different ligand systems for application in OLEDs.