EP3028320A1

EP3028320A1 - Electro-optical device and use thereof

Info

Publication number: EP3028320A1
Application number: EP14739043.9A
Authority: EP
Inventors: Aurélie LUDEMANN; Susanne Heun; Niels Schulte
Original assignee: Merck Patent GmbH
Current assignee: Merck Patent GmbH
Priority date: 2013-07-29
Filing date: 2014-07-09
Publication date: 2016-06-08
Also published as: CN105431956A; US20160181538A1; KR102272539B1; CN105431956B; KR20160040621A; JP6490685B2; JP2016530713A; WO2015014437A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to an electro-optical device comprising a) an anode, b) a cathode, c) at least one emitter layer, which is arranged between the anode and the cathode, containing at least one semi-conductive, organic material, and d) at least one intermediate layer, which is arranged between the at least one emitter layer and the anode, and which contains a polymer having hole-conducting structural units. The device is characterized in that the polymer having hole-conducting structural units additionally has structural units having electron-conducting properties. The devices according to the invention have significantly longer service lives compared to known devices.

Description

Electro-optical device and its use

The present invention relates to a novel design principle for organic electro-optical devices, in particular for electroluminescent elements, and their use in based on displays and lighting means.

In a number of different applications that can be attributed to the electronics industry in the broadest sense, the use of organic semiconductors as functional materials has long been a reality or is expected in the near future.

For example, light-sensitive organic materials (e.g., phthalocyanines) and organic charge transport materials (e.g., triarylamine-based hole transport materials) have been used in copying machines for many years.

Special semiconducting organic compounds, some of which are also capable of emitting light in the visible spectral range, are currently being used. Already used today in commercially available devices, for example in organic electroluminescent devices.

Their individual components, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), have a very wide range of applications. OLEDs are already in use, e.g. when:

white or colored backlighting for monochrome or multicolor display elements (such as in calculators, mobile phones and other portable applications),

- large displays (such as traffic signs or posters),

- Lighting elements in a wide variety of colors and shapes, - monochrome or full color passive matrix displays for portable applications (such as mobile phones, PDAs and camcorders),

- full-color, large-screen and high-resolution active matrix displays for a wide range of applications (such as mobile phones, PDAs, laptops and televisions).

In some cases, the development of these applications is already well advanced. Nevertheless, there is still a great need for technical improvements.

Conjugated polymers are currently being studied intensively as promising materials for polymeric OLED, so-called PLED. Their simple processing, in contrast to evaporated small-molecule devices ("SMOLED"), promises a more cost-effective production of organic light-emitting diodes through the use of interlayers, so-called interlayers, in a layer structure, as for example in WO 04/084260 The lifetime and efficiency of PLED have been significantly increased, and these interlayers are deposited between the anode and the layer of light-emitting polymers, and their function is to inject and transport holes, that is, positively charged carriers, into the light-emitting polymer to facilitate and to block electrons at the interface between the intermediate layer and the layer of light-emitting polymer

Interlayers consist of polymers with a high proportion of hole-transporting units linked by a conjugated backbone. These polymers also block the transport of electrons at the same time.

Electro-optical devices constructed using such intermediate layers, although showing distinct advantages in terms of life, compared to arrangements without such intermediate layers. durability and efficiency, but both characteristics still lag far behind the requirements that would be required for use in large displays. The known systems of this type therefore have particular defects in terms of life. In addition, these systems show an intolerable voltage increase during operation.

Surprisingly, it has now been found that electro-optical

Devices show significantly higher lifetimes, if than

Interlayers used are polymers that are copolymerized with electron conductors. This goes significantly beyond the prior art, since an electron blocking effect, which was considered to be an essential function of intermediate layers, is no longer present here.

Based on this prior art, the present invention has the object to provide an electro-optical device that can be produced with simple application methods from solution and has a longer life compared to known devices.

The subject of the present invention is thus an electro-optical device containing

a) an anode,

b) a cathode,

c) at least one emitter layer, which is arranged between anode and cathode, containing at least one semiconducting, organic material, and

d) at least one intermediate layer, which is arranged between the at least one emitter layer and the anode, and which contains a polymer with hole-conducting structural units, which is characterized in that the polymer with hole-conducting

Structural units additionally structural units having electron-conducting properties.

The device according to the invention is characterized by the use of one or more intermediate layers of selected polymers

Materials marked.

The copolymers which form the intermediate layer must have hole-conducting properties and at the same time electron-conducting properties. This property profile can be generated by selecting suitable structural units that make up the copolymer.

The structural units having electron conducting properties are selected to have a LUMO ("Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital") lower than the LUMO of the semiconducting organic material of the emitter layer, which is the case with the conventionally used emitter materials when the LUMO is the Structural units with electron-conducting properties is less than -2.3 eV Preferably, the LUMO of the electron-conducting structural unit of the intermediate layer is less than -2.4 eV, particularly preferably less than -2.5 eV and in particular less than -2.6 eV.

The LUMO of the electron-conducting structural unit of the intermediate layer is preferably more than 0.1 eV, more preferably more than 0.15 eV, and in particular more than 0.2 eV lower than the LUMO of the at least one semiconducting organic material of the emitter layer.

Among the various energy levels exhibited by chemical compounds, HOMO ("Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital") and LUMO ("Lowest Unoccupied Molecular Orbital") play a special role. These energy levels can be detected by photoemission, eg XPS ("X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy") and UPS (Ultraviolet Photoelectron

Spectroscopy "), or by cyclic voltammetry (" CV ") for the oxidation and reduction.

For quite some time, the energy levels of the molecular orbitals, in particular the occupied molecular orbitals, can also be determined by quantum chemical calculation methods, e.g. through the "Density Function Theory" ("DFT"). A detailed description of such quantum chemical calculations can be found in WO 2012/171609.

In principle, any electron transport material (ETM) known to those skilled in the art can be used as repeating unit in the polymers of the intermediate layer according to the present invention. Suitable ETMs are selected from the group consisting of imidazoles, pyridines, pyrimidines, pyridazines, pyrazines, oxadiazoles, quinolines, quinoxalines, anthracenes, benzanthracenes, pyrenes, perylenes, benzimidazoles, triazines, ketones, phosphine oxides, phenazines, phenanthrolines, triarylboranes and their isomers and derivatives.

Other suitable ETM moieties are metal chelates of 8-hydroxyquinoline (for example, Liq, Alq _3, Gaq _3, MgQ _2, ZnQ _2, lnq _3, Zrq _4), Balq, 4- Azaphenanthren-5-ol / Be complexes (US 5,529,853 A, for example, formula 7), butadiene derivatives (US 4356429), heterocyclic optical brightener (US 4539507), benzazoles, such as 1, 3,5-tris (2-N-phenylbenzimidazolyl) benzene (TPBI) (US 5766779, formula 8 ), 1,3,5-triazine derivatives (US 6229012 B1, US 6225467 B1, DE 10312675 A1, WO 98/04007 A1 and US 6352791 B1), pyrenes, anthracenes, tetracenes, fluorenes, spirobifluorenes,

Dendrimers, tetracenes, e.g. Rubrene derivatives, 1, 10-phenanthroline derivatives (JP 2003/115387, JP 2004/311184, JP 2001/267080 and

WO 2002/043449), silacylcyclopentadiene derivatives (EP 1480280, EP 1478032 and EP 1469533), pyndin derivatives (JP 2004/200162, Kodak), phenanthrolines, eg BCP and Bphen, and a number of phenanthrolines bonded via biphenyl or other aromatic groups

(US 2007/0252517 A1) or anthracene-linked phenanthrolines (US 2007/0122656 A1, e.g., Formulas 9 and 10), 1, 3,4-oxadiazoles, e.g.

Formula 11, triazoles, e.g. Formula 12, triarylboranes, benzimidazole derivatives and other N-heterocyclic compounds (US 2007/0273272 A1), borane derivatives, Ga-oxinoid complexes. A preferred ETM moiety is selected from a moiety of formula (1) having a C = X group in which X = O, S or Se, preferably O, e.g. in WO 2004/093207 A2 and WO 2004/013080 A1.

The structural units of the formula (1) are particularly preferably fluorene, spirobifluorene or indenofluoro ketones of the formulas (1a), (1b) and (1c),

wherein R and R ¹ to R ⁸ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic cyclic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group having 5 to 50 nucleus atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group having 3 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxy group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted aralkyl group having 6 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted aryloxy group having 5 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted arylthio group having 5 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxycarbonyl group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted silyl group having 1 to 50 Represent carbon atoms, a carboxy group, a halogen atom, a cyano group, a nitro group or a hydroxy group. One or more of the pairs R ¹ and R ² , R ³ and R ⁴ , R ⁵ and R ^6, and R ⁷ and R ⁸ optionally form one

Ring system, and r is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4.

Further preferred ETM structural units are from the group

which consists of imidazole derivatives or benzoimidazole derivatives of the formula (2), as disclosed, for example, in US 2007/0104977 A1,

in which

R represents a hydrogen atom, a C6-C60 aryl group, a pyridyl group, a quinolyl group, a C1-20 alkyl group or a C1-20 alkoxy group; these groups may be unsubstituted or substituted by one or more R ² radicals;

m is an integer from 0 to 4;

R ^{1 represents} a C 6-60 aryl group, a pyridyl group, a quinolyl group, a C 1-20 alkyl group or a C 1-20 alkoxy group; where these groups are unsubstituted or with one or more radicals R ²

may be substituted:

R ^{2 represents} a hydrogen atom, a C 6-60 aryl group, a pyridyl group, a quinolyl group, a C 1-20 alkyl group or a C 1-20 alkoxy group;

L is a C6-60-arylene group, a pyridinylene group, a quinoiinylene or a fluorenylene group, which groups may be unsubstituted or substituted by one or more radicals R ² and

Ar ^{1 represents} a C 6-60 aryl group, a pyridinyl group or a quinolinyl group; these groups may be unsubstituted or substituted by one or more R ² radicals. Further preferred are 2.9, 10-substituted anthracenes (with 1- or 2-naphthyl and 4- or 3-biphenyl) or molecules containing two anthracene units, as disclosed, for example, in US 2008/0193796 A1. In a further preferred embodiment, the ETM aterials are selected from heteroaromatic ring systems of the following formulas (3) to (8):

Particularly preferred are anthracene benzimidazole derivatives of the formulas (9) to (1), as disclosed, for example, in US Pat. No. 6,878,469 B2, in US 2006/147747 A and in EP 1551206 A1.

Examples of polymers containing an ETM moiety and the corresponding syntheses are as disclosed for triazine as the ETM moiety in US 2003/0170490 A1.

Copolymers which are preferably used for the intermediate layer comprise structural units having electron-conducting properties which are derived from benzophenone, triazine, imidazole, benzimidazole or perylene units, which may optionally be substituted. Examples of these are benzophenone, aryltriazine, benzoimidazole and diarylperylene units.

Particular preference is given to using copolymers which contain structural units having electron-conducting properties, which are selected from the structural units of the following formulas (I) to (IV),

(M)

The proportion of the structural units having electron-conducting properties in the hole-conducting polymer which is used in the intermediate layer is preferably in the range from 0.01 to 30 mol%, particularly preferably in the range from 1 to 15 mol%, and in particular in the range from 1 to 4 mol%.

The hole-conducting properties of the copolymers used in the interlayer are also achieved by the selection of suitable structural units. The hole transporting intermediate layer contains at least one repeating unit selected from the group of hole transport materials (HTM), optionally and preferably together with at least one repeating unit which forms the backbone.

In principle, any HTM known to the person skilled in the art can be used as repeating unit in the polymer according to the invention. Such HTM is preferably selected from amines, triarylamines,

Thiophenes, carbazoles, phthalocyanines, porphyrins and their isomers and derivatives. The HTM is more preferably selected from amines, triarylamines, thiophenes, carbazoles, phthalocyanines and porphyrins. Suitable HTM units are phenylenediamine derivatives (US 3615404), arylamine derivatives (US 3567450), amino-substituted chalcone derivatives (US 3526501), styrylanthracene derivatives (JP A 56-46234), polycyclic aromatic compounds (EP 1009041), polyarylalkane derivatives (US 3615402), fluorenone derivatives (JP A 54-110837), hydrazone derivatives (US 3717462), stilbene derivatives (JP A 61-210363), silazane derivatives (US 4950950), polysilanes (JP A 2-204996), aniline copolymers (JP A 2-282263), thiophene oligomeric, polythiophenes, PVK, polypyrroles, polyanilines and other copolymers, porphyrin compounds (JP A 63-2956965), aromatic dimethylidene-type compounds, carbazole compounds such as CDBP, CBP, mCP, aromatic tertiary amine and styrylamine compounds

(US 4,127,412) and monomeric triarylamines (US 3,180,730). Preference is given to aromatic tertiary amines containing at least two tertiary amines

Amine units contain (US 4720432 and US 5061569), such. 4,4'-bis [N- (1-naphthyl) -N-phenylamino] biphenyl (NPD) (US 5061569) or

MTDATA (JP A 4-308688), N, N, N ', N'-tetra (4-biphenyl) diaminobiphenylene (TBDB), 1, 1-bis (4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl) cyclohexane (TAPC), 1 , 1-bis (4-di-p-tolylaminophenyl) -3-phenylpropane (TAPPP), 1, 4-bis [2- [4- [N, N-di (p-tolyl) -amino] phenyl] vinyl] benzene (BDTAPVB), N, N, N \ N'-tetra-p-tolyl-4,4'-diaminobiphenyl (TTB), TPD, N, N, N ', N'-tetraphenyl-4,4 " '-diamino- 1, 1': 4 ', 1 ": 4", 1 "' - quaterphenyl, as well as tertiary amines containing carbazole units, such as 4- (9H-carbazol-9-yl) -N, N-bis [4- (9H-carbazol-9-yl) -phenyl] -benzamine (TCTA). Also preferred are hexaazatriphenylene compounds according to US 2007/0092755 A1.

Particular preference is given to the following triarylamine compounds of the formulas (12) to (17) which may also be substituted by one or more radicals R (of the formula (1b)), as described in EP 1 62193 A1, US Pat

EP 650955 A1, Synth. Metals 1997, 91 (1-3), 209, DE 19646119 A1, the WO 2006/122630 A1, EP 1860097 A, EP 1834945 A1, the

JP 08053397 A, US 6251531 B1 and WO 2009/041635.

(16)

Further preferred HTM units are, for example, triarylamine, benzidine, tetraaryl-para-phenylenediamine, carbazole, azulenes, thiophene-pyrrole and furan derivatives, and also O, S or N-containing heterocycles

Particularly preferred are HTM structural units of the following formula (18) in which

Ar ¹ , which may be the same or different, independently when in different repeating units, represents a single bond or an optionally substituted mononuclear or polynuclear aryl group, Ar ² , which may be the same or different, independently, if in different repeating units, an optionally substituted mononuclear one or polynuclear aryl group mean

Ar ³ , which may be the same or different, independently when in different repeating units, represents an optionally substituted mononuclear or polynuclear aryl group, and

m is 1, 2 or 3.

Particularly preferred units of formula (18) are units of the following formulas (19) to (21),

in which

R, which can be identical or different on each occasion, from H, substituted or unsubstituted aromatic or heteroaromatic group, alkyl group, cycloalkyl group, alkoxy group, aralkyl group, aryloxy group, arylthio group, alkoxycarbonyl group, silyl group,

Carboxy group, a halogen atom, cyano group, nitro group or hydroxy group is selected,

r is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 and

s is 0, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Another preferred interlayer polymer contains at least one repeating unit of the following formula (22)

- (T ^ - CAr ^ - CT ^ - CAr ⁵ ), ₍₂₂₎ where

T ¹ and T ^{2 are} independently selected from thiophene, selenophene, thieno [2,3b] thiophene, thieno [3,2b] thiophene, dithienothiophene, pyrrole, aniline, all of which are optionally substituted with R ⁹ ,

R ⁹ in each occurrence independently of halogen, -CN, -NC, -NCO, -NCS, -OCN, SCN, C (= O) NR ⁰ R ⁰⁰ , -C (= 0) X, -C (= O ) R °, -NH ₂ , -NR ° R ⁰⁰ , SH, SR ⁰ , -SO ₃ H, -SO ₂ R °, -OH, -NO ₂ , -CF ₃ , -SF ₅ , optionally substituted silyl, or Carbyl or hydrocarbyl having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, which is optionally substituted and optionally contains one or more heteroatoms is selected,

Ar ⁴ and Ar ^{5 are} independently mononuclear or polynuclear aryl or heteroaryl, which is optionally substituted and given if appropriate fused to the 2,3-positions of one or both of the adjacent thiophene or selenophen groups,

c and e independently represent 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4, wherein

1 <c + e <6, and

d and f are independently 0, 2, 3 or 4. The groups T and T ² are preferably selected from thiophene-2,5-diyl,

Thieno [3,2-b] thiophene-2,5-diyl,

Dithienothiophene-2,6-diyl or

Pyrrole-2,5-diyl

can assume the same meanings as R in the formula Preferred units of formula (22) are selected from the following formulas:

Examples of hole-transporting interlayer polymers are disclosed in WO 2007/131582 A1 and in WO 2008/009343 A1.

The proportion of the structural units having hole-conducting properties in the hole-conducting polymer which is used in the intermediate layer is preferably in the range from 10 to 99 mol%, particularly preferably in the range from 20 to 80 mol%, and in particular in the range from 40 to 60 mol%. ,

Preferably, the polymers according to the invention contain as

Repeating units which form the polymer backbone, aromatic or heteroaromatic structural units having 6 to 40 carbon atoms. These are preferably 4,5-dihydropyrene derivatives, 4,5,9,10-tetrahydropyrene derivatives, fluorene derivatives, such as in US 5962631, in WO 2006/052457 A2 and WO 2006/118345 A1 discloses 9.9 ^* - spirobifluorene derivatives, as disclosed, for example, in WO 2003/020790 A1, 9,10-phenanthrene derivatives, for example in WO 2005 / 104264 A1, discloses 9,10-dihydrophenanthrene derivatives, as disclosed, for example, in WO 2005/014689 A2, 5,7-dihydrodibenzooxepin derivatives and cis- and trans-

Indenofluorene derivatives, e.g. in WO 2004/041901 A1 and in WO 2004/113412 A2, binaphthylene derivatives, such as e.g. in WO 2006/063852 A1, and also units such as e.g. in WO 2005/056633 A1, in EP 1344788 A1, in WO 2007/043495 A1, in WO 2005/033174 A1, in WO 2003/099901 A1 and in US Pat

DE 102006003710 A discloses.

Other preferred structural units for repeating units which form the polymer backbone are selected from fluorene derivatives, e.g. in US 5,962,631, in WO 2006/052457 A2 and in

WO 2006/118345 A1 discloses spirobifluorene derivatives, e.g. in WO 2003/020790 A1 discloses benzofluorene, dibenzofluorene,

Benzothiophene and dibenzofluorene and their derivatives, e.g. in WO 2005/056633 A1, in EP 1344788 A1 and in

WO 2007/043495 A1 discloses.

Particularly preferred structural units for repeating units which form the polymer backbone are units of the following formula (23):

in which A, B and B 'independently of one another and when occurring repeatedly, are a divalent group, preferably selected from -CR ¹ R ¹² -, -NR ¹¹ -, -PR ¹¹ -, -O-, -S-, -SO-, -SO ₂ -, -CO-, -CS-, -CSe-, -P (= O) R ¹¹ -, -P (= S) R ¹¹ - and -SiR ¹¹ R ¹² - mean

R ¹¹ and R ¹² independently represent identical or different groups selected from H, halogen, -CN, -NC, -NCO, -NCS, -OCN, -SCN, -C (= O) NR ° R ⁰⁰ , -C (= O) X, -C (= O) R °, -NH ₂ , -NR ° R ⁰⁰ , -SH, -SR ⁰ , -SO ₃ H, -SO ₂ R ⁰ , -OH, -NO ₂ , -CF 3, -SF ₅ , optionally substituted silyl, or carbyl or hydrocarbyl having 1 to 40 carbon atoms, which is optionally substituted and optionally containing one or more heteroatoms, are selected, and the groups R ¹¹ and R ² optionally with the fluorene part to which they are bound form a spiro group,

X means halogen,

R ° and R ⁰⁰ independently of one another denote H or an optionally substituted carbyl or hydrocarbyl group which optionally contains one or more heteroatoms,

each g is independently 0 or 1 and the corresponding h in the same subunit is for the other of 0 or 1,

m stands for an integer> 1,

Ar ¹ and Ar ^{2 are} independently mono- or polynuclear aryl or heteroaryl optionally substituted and optionally fused to the 7,8-positions or 8,9-positions of the indenofluorene group, and

a and b independently represent 0 or 1.

If the groups R ¹¹ and R ^{2 form a} spiro group with the fluorene group to which they are attached, these are preferably spirobifluorene.

The units of formula (23) are preferably selected from the following formulas (24) to (28): -20-

Preferably, RF, Cl, Br, I, -CN, -NO ₂ , -NCO, -NCS, -OCN, -SCN, -C (= O) NR ⁰ R ⁰⁰ , -C (= O) X, -C (= 0) R °, -NR ° R ⁰⁰ , optionally substituted silyl, aryl or heteroaryl having 4 to 40, preferably 6 to 20 C atoms, or straight-chain, branched or cyclic alkyl, alkoxy, alkylcarbonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy or alkoxycarbonyloxy with 1 to 20, preferably 1 to 12, C atoms in which one or more H atoms are optionally replaced by F or Cl and in which R °, R ⁰⁰ and X are as defined above in relation to formula (23).

Particularly preferred units of the formula (23) are units of the following formulas (29) to (32):

in which

L is H, halogen or optionally fluorinated, linear or branched alkyl or alkoxy having 1 to 12 C atoms and preferably H, F, methyl, i-propyl, t-butyl, n-pentoxy or trifluoromethyl and

L 'is optionally fluorinated, linear or branched alkyl or alkoxy having 1 to 12 C atoms and preferably n-octyl or n-octyloxy.

In another preferred embodiment, the interlayer polymer according to the present invention is a non-conjugated or partially conjugated polymer.

A particularly preferred non-conjugated or partially conjugated interlayer polymer contains a non-conjugated backbone repeat unit.

A preferred unconjugated backbone repeat unit is a unit of an indenofluorene derivative of formulas (33) and (34), such as e.g. disclosed in WO 2010/136110,

in which

X and Y are independently selected from the group consisting of H, F, a a C _2- 40 alkenyl group, a C _2- o- alkynyl group, an optionally substituted C _6- 4o-aryl group and an optionally substituted 5- to 25-membered heteroaryl group is.

Other preferred unconjugated backbone repeat units are units containing fluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene or indenofluorene derivatives of the following formulas, e.g. disclosed in WO 2010/136111,

880

- 24 -

wherein R 1 -R 4 may have the same meanings as X and Y in formulas (33) and (34).

The proportion of the structural units forming the polymer backbone in the hole-conducting polymer according to the invention which is described in US Pat

Intermediate layer is used, is preferably in the range of 10 to 99 mol%, more preferably in the range of 20 to 80 mol%, and in particular in the range of 30 to 60 mol%.

The semiconducting organic material for the emitter layer (s) may be a polymeric matrix material incorporating one or more different emitters incorporated in the polymer backbone, or it may be a polymeric and non-emissive matrix material having one or more low molecular weight ones Emitter are mixed, or it may be mixtures of different polymers with built-in polymer backbone emitters or it may be Mixtures of different non-emissive matrix polymers with different low molecular weight emitters, or they may be mixtures of at least one low molecular weight matrix material with different low molecular weight emitters, or any combination of these materials may be used.

The emitter layer contains at least one emitter, if appropriate, and preferably at least one further matrix material.

In principle, any emitter known to those skilled in the art can be used as an emitter in the emitter layer of the device according to the invention.

In a preferred embodiment, the emitter is integrated as a repeating unit in a polymer.

In a further preferred embodiment, the emitter is mixed into a matrix material, which may be a small molecule, a polymer, an oligomer, a dendrimer or a mixture thereof.

Preferred is an emitter layer containing at least one emitter selected from fluorescent compounds, phosphorescent compounds and emitting organometallic complexes.

As used herein, the term emitter unit or emitter refers to a device or compound in which, upon receipt of an exciton or formation of an exciton, radiation decay occurs with light emission.

There are two emitter classes, fluorescent and phosphorescent emitters. The term fluorescent emitter refers to materials or compounds that undergo a radiation transition from an excited singlet state to its ground state. The term phos- Phorescent emitter as used in the present application refers to luminescent materials or compounds containing transition metals. These typically include materials in which the light emission is caused by spin-forbidden transitions, eg, transitions of excited triplet and / or transitions

Quintuplet states.

According to quantum mechanics, the transition from excited states with high spin multiplicity, e.g. of excited triplet states, forbidden to the ground state. However, the presence of a heavy atom, such as iridium, osmium, platinum and europium, provides for strong spin-orbit coupling, i. the excited singlet and triplet are mixed so that the triplet has a certain singlet character; and if the singlet-triplet mixture results in a rate of radiation decay faster than the non-radiative event, the luminance can be efficient. This type of emission can be achieved with metal complexes, as Baldo et al. in Nature 395, 151-154 (1998). Particularly preferred is an emitter selected from the group of

fluorescent emitter is selected.

Many examples of fluorescent emitters have already been published, e.g. Styrylamine derivatives, as in JP 2913116 B and in

WO 2001/021729 A1 discloses and indenofluorene derivatives, e.g. in WO 2008/006449 and in WO 2007/140847.

The fluorescent emitters are preferably polyaromatic compounds, such as 9,10-di (2-naphthylanthracene) and other anthracene derivatives, derivatives of tetracene, xanthene, perylene, such as 2,5,8, 1-tetra-t- butylperylene, phenylene, eg 4,4 '- (bis (9-ethyl-3-carbazovinylene) -1, 1'-biphenyl, fluorene, arylpyrene (US 2006/0222886), arylene vinylenes (US Pat. No. 5,110,029, US Pat. No. 5,130,603), derivatives of rubrene, coumarin, rhodamine, quinacridone, such as Ν, Ν'-dimethylquinacridone (DMQA), dicyano-methylene-pyran, such as 4- (dicyanoethylene) -6- (4- dimethylaminostyryl-2-methyl) -4H-pyran (DCM), thiopyrans, polymethine, pyrylium and thiopyrylium salts, periflanthene, indenoperylene, bis (azinyl) imineboron compounds (US 2007/0092753 A1), bis ( azinyl) methene compounds and carbostyryl compounds.

Other preferred fluorescent emitters are described in C.H. Chen et al .:

"Recent developments in organic electroluminescent materials" Macromol., Symp. 125, (1997), 1-48 and "Recent progress in molecular organic electroluminescent materials and devices" Mat. and Eng. R, 39 (2002), 143-222.

Other preferred fluorescent emitters are selected from the class of monostyrylamines, distyrylamines, tristyrylamines, tetrastyrylamines, styrylphosphines, styryl ethers and arylamines.

By a monostyrylamine is meant a compound containing a substituted or unsubstituted styryl group and at least one, preferably aromatic, amine. By a distyrylamine is meant a compound which is two substituted or unsubstituted

Styryl groups and at least one, preferably aromatic, amine. A tristyrylamine is to be understood as meaning a compound which contains three substituted or unsubstituted styryl groups and at least one, preferably aromatic, amine. By a tetrastyrylamine is meant a compound containing four substituted or unsubstituted styryl groups and at least one, preferably aromatic, amine. The styryl groups are particularly preferably stilbenes, which may also be further substituted. The corresponding phosphines and ethers are defined analogously to the amines. For the purposes of the present application is an arylamine or a aromatic amine to understand a compound containing three substituted or unsubstituted aromatic or heteroaromatic ring systems which are directly bonded to the nitrogen. At least one of these aromatic or heteroaromatic ring systems is preferably a fused ring system, more preferably at least 14 aromatic ring atoms. Preferred examples of these are aromatic anthracene amines, aromatic anthracenediamines, aromatic pyrenamines, aromatic pyrenediamines, aromatic

Chrysenamine and aromatic chrysene diamines. Under a

aromatic anthracenamine is a compound in which a diarylamino group is bonded directly to an anthracene group, preferably in the 9-position. By an aromatic anthracenediamine is meant a compound in which two diarylamino groups are bonded directly to an anthracene group, preferably in the 9,10-position. Aromatic pyrenamines, pyrendiamines, chrysenamines and chrysenediamines are defined analogously thereto, the diarylamino groups on the pyrene preferably being attached in the 1-position or in the 1,6-position.

Other preferred fluorescent emitters are indenofluorenamines and indenofluorodiamines, e.g. according to WO 2006/122630, benzoin-indenofluoreneamines and benzoindenofluorodiamines, e.g. according to WO 2008/006449, and dibenzoindenofluorenamines and dibenzoindeno-fluoro-diamines, e.g. according to WO 2007/140847.

Examples of emitters from the class of styrylamines are substituted or unsubstituted tristilbenamines or those described in WO 2006/000388, in WO 2006/058737, in WO 2006/000389, in WO 2007/065549 and in WO 2007/115610 dopants. Distyrylbenzene and distyrylbiphenyl derivatives are described in US 5121029. Other styrylamines can be found in US 2007/0 22656 A. Particularly preferred styrylamine emitters and triarylamine emitters are the compounds of the following formulas (35) to (40), as described, for example, in US Pat

US 7250532 B2, DE 102005058557 A1, CN 1583691 A, JP 08053397 A, US 6251531 B1 and US 2006/210830 A.

Other preferred fluorescent emitters are selected from the group of triarylamines such as in EP 1957606 A1 and in

US 2008/0113101 A1 discloses.

Further preferred fluorescent emitters are from the derivatives of naphthalene, anthracene, tetracene, fluorene, periflanthene, indenoperylene, phenanthrene, perylene (US 2007/0252517 A1), pyrene, chrysene, decacycles, coronene, tetraphenylcyclopentadiene, pentaphenylcyclopentadiene, fluorene, spirofluorene, Rubrene, coumarin (US 4769292, US 6020078, US 2007/0252517 A1), pyran, oxazone, benzoxazole, benzothiazole, benzimidazole, pyrazine, cinnamic esters, diketopyrrolopyrrole, acridone and quinacridone (US 2007/0252517 Al).

Of the anthracene compounds, 9,10-substituted anthracenes, e.g. 9,10-diphenylanthracene and 9,10-bis (phenylethynyl) anthracene, more preferably. 1,4-bis (9'-ethynylanthracenyl) benzene is also a preferred dopant.

Particularly preferably, an emitter in the emitter layer is selected from the group of blue-fluorescent emitters.

Particularly preferably, an emitter in the emitter layer is selected from the group of green-fluorescing emitters.

Particularly preferably, an emitter in the emitter layer is selected from the group of yellow-fluorescing emitters.

An emitter in the emitter layer is particularly preferably selected from the group of red-fluorescent emitters, in particular from the group of the perylene derivatives of the formula (41), as disclosed, for example, in US 2007/0104977 A1.

Also particularly preferably, an emitter in the emitter layer is selected from the group of phosphorescent emitters.

Examples of phosphorescent emitters are described in WO 00/70655, in WO 01/41512, in WO 02/02714, in WO 02/15645, in US Pat

EP 1191613, in EP 1191612, in EP 1191614 and in

WO 2005/033244 discloses. Generally, all phosphorescent complexes as used in the art and as known to those skilled in the art of organic electroluminescence are suitable, and those skilled in the art without inventive step will be able to use other phosphorescent complexes.

The phosphorescent emitter may be a metal complex, preferably of the formula M (L) _Z in which M is a metal atom, L on each occurrence independently represents an organic ligand attached to M via one, two or more positions or is coordinated therewith, and z is an integer 1, preferably 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6, and where appropriate these groups with a polymer via one or more, preferably one, two or three positions, preferably via the ligands L, are linked. M is a metal atom selected from transition metals, preferably from Group VIII transition metals, lanthanides or actinides, more preferably from Rh, Os, Ir, Pt, Pd, Au, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Re, Cu, Zn, W, Mo, Pd, Ag and Ru, and especially selected from Os, Ir, Ru, Rh, Re, Pd or Pt. M can also mean Zn.

Preferred ligands are 2-phenylpyridine derivatives, 7,8-benzoquinoline derivatives, 2- (2-thienyl) pyridine derivatives, 2- (1-naphthyl) pyridine derivatives or 2-phenylquinoline derivatives. These compounds may each be substituted, e.g. by fluorine or trifluoromethyl substituents for blue. Secondary ligands are preferably acetylacetonate or picric acid.

Particularly suitable complexes of Pt or Pd with tetradentate ligands of the formula (42) as disclosed in US 2007/0087219 A1, in which R ¹ to R ¹⁴ and Z ¹ to Z ^{5 are} as defined in the reference, Pt porphyrin Complexes with an enlarged ring system

(US 2009/0061681 A1) and Ir complexes, for example 2,3,7,8,12,13,17,18-octa-ethyl-21H, 23H-porphyrin-Pt (II), tetraphenyl-Pt (II ) -tetrabenzoporphyrin (US 2009/0061681 A1), cis-bis (2-phenylpyridinato-N, C2 ') Pt (II), cis-bis (2- (2'-thienyl) pyridinato-N, C3') Pt ( II), cis-bis (2- (2'-thienyl) quinolinato-N, C5 ') Pt (II), (2- (4,6-difluorophenyl) pyridinato-N, C2') Pt (II) acetylacetonate or tris (2-phenylpyridinato-N, C2 ') Ir (III) (Ir (ppy) ₃ , green), bis (2-phenylpyridinato-N, C2) Ir (III) acetylacetonate (Ir (ppy) ₂ acetic acid acetylacetonate, green, US 2001/0053462 A1, Baldo, Thompson et al, Nature 403, (2000), 750-753), bis (1-phenylisoquinolinato-N, C2 ') (2-phenylpyridinato-N, C2') iridium (III), bis (2-phenylpyridinato-N, C2 ') (1-phenylisoquinolinatoN, C2') iridium (III), bis (2- (2'-benzothienyl) pyridinato-N, C3 ') iridium ( III) acetylacetonate, bis (2- (4 ', 6'-difluorophenyl) pyridinato-N, C2') iridium (III) piccolinate (Firpic, blue), bis (2- (4 ', 6'-difluorophenyl) pyridinato-N, C2 ') Ir (III) - tetrakis (1-pyrazolyl) borate, tris (2- (biphenyl-3-yl) -4-tert -butylpyridine) - iridium (III), (ppz) ₂ Ir (5phdpym) (US 2009/0061681 A1), (45oz) ₂ - Ir (5phdpym) (US 2009/0061681 A1), derivatives of 2-phenylpyridine-Ir Complexes such as iridium (III) bis (2-phenylquinolyl-N, C2 ') acetylacetonate (PQIr), tris (2-phenylisoquinolinato-N, C) Ir (III) (red), bis (2- (2') benzo [4,5 a] thienyl) pyridinato-N, C3) Ir-acetylacetonate ([Btp2lr (acac)], red, Adachi et al., Appl. Phys., Lett., 78 (2001), 1622-1624).

Also suitable are complexes of trivalent lanthanides, such as Tb ³⁺ and Eu ³⁺ (Kido, KJ et al., Appl., Phys., Lett., 65, 2124, Kido, et al., Chem., Lett., 657, 1990, US Pat 2007/0252517 A1) or phosphorescent complexes of Pt (II), Ir (I), Rh (I) with maleonitrile dithiolate (Johnson et al., JACS 105, 1983, 1795), Re (I) tricarbonyldiimine complexes ( Wrighton, JACS 96, 1974, 998), Os (II) complexes with cyano ligands and bipyridyl or phenanthroline ligands (Ma et al., Synth. Metals 94, 1998, 245) or Alq ₃ .

Further phosphorescent emitters with tridentate ligands are described in US 6824895 and in US 7029766. Red-emitting phosphorescent complexes are disclosed in US 6835469 and in US 6830828. A particularly preferred phosphorescent emitter is a compound of formula (43) and other compounds such as in the

US 2001/0053462 A1.

Another particularly preferred phosphorescent emitter is a compound of formula (44) as well as other compounds such as e.g. disclosed in WO 2007/095118 A1.

(44)

Further derivatives are described in US 7378162 B2, in US 6835469 B2 and in JP 2003/253145 A.

Particularly preferably, the emitter in the emitter layer is selected from groups which contain organometallic complexes.

In addition to the metal complexes referred to elsewhere herein, a suitable metal complex according to the present invention is selected from transition metals, rare earth elements, lanthanides and actinides. Preferably, the metal is selected from Ir, Ru, Os, Eu, Au, Pt, Cu, Zn, Mo, W, Rh, Pd or Ag.

In a preferred embodiment, the emitter layer contains a conjugated polymer containing at least one repeating unit containing an emitter group as described above. Examples of metal complex-containing conjugated polymers and the synthetic methods are in EP 1138746 B1 and DE 102004032527 A1. Examples of singlet emitter-containing conjugated polymers and the synthetic methods are disclosed in DE 102005060473 A1 and in WO 2010/022847.

In a further preferred embodiment, the emitter layer contains a non-conjugated polymer which contains at least one emitter unit as described above and at least one lateral charge transport unit. Examples of non-conjugated polymers containing pendent metal complexes and the methods of synthesis are disclosed in US 7250226 B2, JP 2007/211243 A2, JP 2007/197574 A2, US 7250226 B2 and JP 2007/059939 A , Examples of non-conjugated polymers containing pendant singlet emitters and the methods of synthesis are disclosed in JP 2005/108556, in JP

2005/285661 and JP 2003/338375.

In a further embodiment, the emitter layer contains a non-conjugated polymer containing at least one emitter unit as described above and at least one repeating unit forming the polymer backbone in the main chain, wherein the repeating unit forming the polymer backbone is preferably is selected from the units as described above for the interlayer polymer, non-conjugated backbone. Examples of non-conjugated polymers containing metal complexes in the backbone and the synthetic methods are disclosed in WO 2010/149261 and WO 2010/136110.

In yet another preferred embodiment, a material used for emitter layers contains, in addition to the emitter (s), a charge-transporting polymer matrix. For fluorescent emitters or singlet emitters, this polymer matrix may be selected from a conjugated polymer, which preferably has a non-conjugated polymer backbone as described above for the interlayer polymer, and in particular It prefers a conjugated polymer backbone as above for the

Interlayer polymer described contains. For phosphorescent emitters or triplet emitters, this polymer matrix is preferably selected from non-conjugated polymers which are non-conjugated side-chain polymers or non-conjugated backbone polymers, for example polyvinylcarbazole ("PVK"), polysilane, copolymers containing phosphine oxide units or matrix polymers such as in WO 2010/149261 and in WO 2010/136110.

In yet another preferred embodiment, the emitter layer contains at least one low molecular weight emitter containing an emitter group as described above and at least one low molecular weight matrix material. Suitable low molecular weight matrix materials are materials from various classes.

Preferred matrix materials for fluorescent or singlet emitters are selected from the classes of oligoarylenes (e.g., 2,2 ', 7,7'-tetraphenylspirobifluorene according to EP 676461 or dinaphthyl anthracene), in particular the fused aromatic oligoarylenes, e.g. Phenanthrene, tetracene, coronene, chrysene, fluorene, spirobifluorene, perylene, phthaloperylene, naphthaloperylene, deca- cyclen, rubrene, the oligoarylenevinylenes (eg 4,4'-bis (2,2-diphenylethenyl) -, 1'-biphenyl (DPVBi) or 4,4-bis-2,2-diphenylvinyl-1, 1-spirobiphenyl (spiro-DPVBi according to EP 676461), the polypodal metal complexes (eg according to WO 04/081017), in particular metal complexes of 8-hydroxyquinoline, eg aluminum (III) -tris (8-hydroxyquinoline) (aluminum quinolate, Alq3) or bis (2-methyl-8-quinolinolato) -4- (phenylphenol-linolato) aluminum, also with imidazole chelate (US 2007/0092753 A1) and Quinoline-metal complexes, aminoquinoline-metal complexes, benzoquinoline-metal complexes, the hole-conducting compounds (eg according to the

WO 04/058911), the electron-conducting compounds, in particular ketones, phosphine oxides, sulfoxides, etc. (for example according to WO 05/084081 and WO 05/084082), the atropisomers (eg according to WO 06/048268), the boronic acid derivatives (eg according to WO 06/117052) or the

Benzanthracenes (for example according to DE 102007024850). Particularly preferred host materials are selected from the classes of

Oligoarylenes containing naphthalene, anthracene, benzanthracene and / or pyrene, or atropisomers of these compounds, the ketones, the phosphine oxides and the sulfoxides. Very particularly preferred host materials are selected from the classes of oligoarylenes containing anthracene, benzanthracene and / or pyrene, or atropisomers of these compounds. For the purposes of the present application, an oligoarylene is a compound in which at least three aryl or arylene groups are bonded to one another.

Particularly preferred low molecular weight matrix materials for singlet emitters are selected from benzanthracene, anthracene, triarylamine, indenofluorene, fluorene, spirobifluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene and their isomers and derivatives.

Preferred low molecular weight matrix materials for phosphorescent or triplet emitters are Ν, Ν-biscarbazolylbiphenyl (CBP),

Carbazole derivatives (for example according to WO 05/039246, US 2005/0069729, JP 2004/288381, EP 1205527 or DE 102007002714), azacarbazoles (for example according to EP 1617710, EP 1617711, the

EP 1731584 or JP 2005/347160), ketones (e.g.

WO 04/093207), phosphine oxides, sulfoxides and sulfones (e.g., according to WO 05/003253), oligophenylenes, aromatic amines (e.g., according to US 2005/0069729), bipolar matrix materials (e.g.

WO 07/137725), 1,3,5-triazine derivatives (for example according to US Pat. No. 6,229,012 B1, US Pat. No. 6,225,467 B1, DE 10312675 A1, WO 98/04007 A1 and US Pat. No. 6352791 B1), silanes (for example according to WO 05/111172), 9,9-diarylfluorene derivatives (eg according to DE 102008017591), azaboroles or

Boronic acid esters (eg according to WO 06/117052), triazole derivatives, oxazoles and oxazole derivatives, imidazole derivatives, polyarylalkane derivatives,

Pyrazoline derivatives, pyrazolone derivatives, distyrylpyrazine derivatives, thiopyran dioxide derivatives, phenylenediamine derivatives, tertiary aromatic amines, styrylamines, amino-substituted chalcone derivatives, indoles, styrylanthracene derivatives, aryl-substituted anthracene derivatives, for example 2,3,5,6-tetramethylphenyl-1,4-bisphthalimide ( TMPP, US 2007/0252517 A1), anthraquinodimethane derivatives, anthrone derivatives, fluorenone derivatives, fluorenylidenemethane derivatives, hydrazone derivatives, stilbene derivatives, silazane derivatives, aromatic dimethylidene compounds, porphyrin compounds, carbodiimide derivatives, diphenylquinone derivatives, tetracarbocyclic compounds, such as, for example, naphthaleneperylene, phthalocyanine derivatives, metal complexes The 8-hydroxyquinoline derivatives such as Alq ₃ , the 8-hydroxyquinoline complexes may also contain triarylaminophenol ligands (US 2007/0134514 A1), various metal complex-polysilane compounds with metal phthalocyanine, benzoxazole or benzothiazole as ligand, or electron-conducting po polymers, for example poly (N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK), aniline copolymers, thiophenoligomers, polythiophenes, polythiophene derivatives, polyphenylene derivatives,

Polyphenylenvinylenderivate and polyfluorene derivatives.

Particularly preferred low molecular weight matrix materials for triplet emitters are selected from carbazole, ketone, triazine, imidazole, fluorene, spirobifluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene and their isomers and derivatives.

Another preferred material used for emitter layers, in addition to the emitter or emitters, contains a neutral polymer matrix, e.g. Polystyrene, polymethyl methacrylate, polyvinyl butyral ("PVB") or polycarbonate.

Another preferred material used for emitter layers, in addition to the emitter or emitters and at least one polymer at least one hole-transporting small molecule and / or at least one electron-transporting small molecule. Among them are non-polymers to understand organic compounds with hole or electron-transporting properties.

A preferred material used for emitter layers contains, in addition to the emitter (s), a material with electron-transporting properties.

Preference is given to using a polymeric matrix material which incorporates one or more different triplet emitters incorporated in the polymer backbone, or mixtures of polymeric matrix materials, the polymers incorporated in the polymer backbone having one or more different ones

Contain triplet emitter.

The emitters in the emitter layer are preferably chosen such that the widest possible emission results. Preferably, triplet emitters are combined with the following emissions: green and red; blue and green; light blue and light red; blue, green and red. Of these, triplet emitters with deep green and deep red emission are particularly preferably used. This can be adjusted especially yellow tones well. By varying the concentrations of the individual emitter molecules, the hues can be generated and adjusted in the desired manner.

As an emitter in the context of this application, all molecules emitting from the singlet or triplet state in the visible spectrum can be used. For the purposes of this application, the term "visible spectrum" is to be understood as meaning a range having a wavelength in the range from 380 nm to 750 nm.

Particularly preferred are electroluminescent devices in which a first emitter has an emission maximum in the green spectral range and a second emitter has an emission maximum in the red spectral range. Further preferred combinations of emitters are those which emit their maximum in the blue and green spectral range, in the light blue and bright red spectral range as well as in the blue, green and red spectral range. As a rule, the emitters in the emitter layer lie in a dopant

Matrix system before. The concentration of emitter (s) is preferably in the range from 0.01 to 30 mol%, particularly preferably in the range from 1 to 25 mol%, and in particular in the range from 2 to 20 mol%. Particularly preferably, the emitter layer contains charge-transporting substances.

In a further preferred embodiment, the eiektrooptische device according to the invention contains in the emitter layer triplet emitter and substances which promote the transition of excitation energy in the triplet state. These are, for example, carbazoles, ketones, phosphine oxides, silanes, sulfoxides, compounds containing heavy metal atoms, bromine compounds or phosphorescence sensitizers. Particular preference is given to electro-optical devices in which the semiconductive, organic material of the emitter layer is a semiconducting polymer, in particular a semiconducting copolymer.

These are preferably semiconducting copolymers with repeating units which are derived from fluorene, spirobifluorene,

Indenofluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene, phenylene, dibenzothiophene, dibenzofuran, phenylenevinylene and derivatives thereof, which repeating units may optionally be substituted.

Other preferred semiconductive copolymers used in the emitter layer have repeating units derived from triarylamines derive, preferably from those with repeating units of the above-defined formulas (19) to (21).

The eiektrooptischen devices according to the invention particularly preferably have the simplest possible structure. In an extreme case, this may be a device which, in addition to a cathode and anode layer, contains only one or more emitter layers arranged therebetween and one or more intermediate layers.

A preferred embodiment of the eiektrooptischen device according to the invention comprises at least one additional electron injection layer, which is arranged directly between the first emitter layer and the cathode.

The electro-optical device according to the invention is preferably applied to a substrate, in particular to a transparent substrate. In turn, an electrode made of transparent or semi-transparent material, preferably of indium-tin oxide, is preferably applied to the latter.

In particular, the electro-optical device further comprises a hole injection layer disposed between the anode and the intermediate layer of hole-conducting polymer, preferably a layer of poly (ethylene dioxothiophene).

The eiektrooptischen devices according to the invention exhibit

preferably thicknesses of the individual layers delimited in the range from 1 to 150 nm, particularly preferably in the range from 3 to 100 nm, and in particular in the range from 5 to 80 nm.

Preferred electro-optical devices according to the invention comprise polymeric materials having glass transition temperatures T _g greater than 90 ° C, particularly preferably greater than 100 ° C, and in particular greater than 120 ° C.

It is particularly preferred if all the polymers used in the device according to the invention have the described high glass transition temperatures.

As cathode materials, materials known per se can be used in the electro-optical devices according to the invention. Especially for OLEDs, materials with a low work function are used. Examples of these are metals, metal combinations or low work function metal alloys, e.g. Ca, Sr, Ba, Cs, Mg, Al, In and Mg / Ag.

The construction of the electro-optical devices according to the invention can be achieved with various production methods.

On the one hand, it is possible to apply at least a part of the layers in a vacuum; Part of the layers, in particular the emitter layer (s) and the intermediate layer (s), are applied from solution. It is also possible without inventive step to apply all layers of solution.

When applied in vacuum shadow masks are used for structuring, while from solution a variety of printing processes are applicable.

Printing processes in the context of the present application also include those which emanate from solids, such as thermal transfer or LITI. In the case of solvent-based processes, solvents are used which dissolve the substances used. The nature of the substance is not relevant to the invention. The preparation of the electro-optical devices according to the invention can thus take place according to methods known per se, wherein at least the at least one emitter layer and an intermediate layer are applied from solution, for example by a printing method, in particular by ink jet printing.

In a preferred embodiment, the electro-optical device according to the invention is an organic light-emitting diode (OLED). In a further preferred embodiment, the electro-optical device according to the invention is an organic light-emitting electrochemical cell (organic light-emitting cell)

electrochemical cell - OLEC), which contains two electrodes and at least one emitter layer and an intermediate layer between the emitter layer and an electrode as described above, which is characterized in that the emitter layer contains at least one further ionic compound. The original work and principle of OLECs can be traced back to the article by Qibing Pei et al., Science, 995, 269, 086-1088.

The electro-optical device according to the invention can be used in particular in various applications, particularly preferred

Applications include: information displays, backlighting and general lighting. Another special field of application of the electro-optical device according to the invention are therapeutic and cosmetic treatment applications, as disclosed for example in EP 1444008 and in GB 24082092. These uses are also the subject of the present application. The following examples illustrate the invention without limiting it.

Examples 1 and 2: Monomer examples

In order to be able to produce the polymers according to the invention, initially electron-transporting compounds had to be converted into monomers.

example 1

A preferred monomer unit corresponds to formula (1), which is as follows

In a four-necked flask, one equivalent of the alcohol is presented in dichloromethane and stirred for 30 minutes under inert gas. In small portions, manganese (IV) oxide (precipitated, active, 99%) is added to the synthesis. The temperature rises from 18 ° C to 25 ° C after the first half of 5 equivalents is added. The reaction mixture is mixed with a

Water bath cooled while the remaining 2.5 equivalents are added slowly. Then it is stirred overnight. The product is filtered off with suction through silica gel, washed with dichloromethane, concentrated to dryness, stirred with ethanol at room temperature, filtered off with suction and dried in a vacuum drying oven at 40 ° C. for 24 hours. The yield is 70% at this point. The purification takes place over several

Stirring and recrystallization steps (from ethanol, methanol / acetone, toluene and toluene / heptane) until a purity of 99.95% is achieved. Example 2

Another unit, which is suitable as an electron conductor in an intermediate layer because of its LUMO of -2.7 eV, is the following:

The preparation of this monomer is described in WO 03/020790. Examples 3 to 7: polymer examples

The polymers P1 to P4 according to the invention and the comparative polymer V1 are synthesized by using the following monomers (percentages = mol%) by SUZUKI coupling according to WO 03/048225 A2. The synthesis of light-emitting polymers with said monomers is disclosed in WO 05/040302 and in WO 03/020790.

Example 4 (polymer P2):

PT / EP2014 / 001880

- 47 -

Example 5 (polymer P3):

Examples 8 to 18: Apparatus Examples

Production of PLEDs

The preparation of a polymeric organic light-emitting diode (PLED) has already been described many times in the literature (for example in WO 2004/037887 A2). To illustrate the present invention by way of example, PLEDs with the Polymers P1 to P4 and the comparative polymer V1 produced by spin coating. A typical device has the structure described below.

For this purpose, specially prepared substrates from Technoprint are used in a layout specially designed for this purpose. The ITO structure (indium tin oxide, a transparent, conductive anode) is applied to soda lime glass by sputtering in such a pattern that the cathode vapor-deposited at the end of the production process yields 4 pixels 2 × 2 mm.

The substrates are cleaned in the clean room with DI water and a detergent (Deconex 15 PF) and then activated by a UV / ozone plasma treatment. Thereafter, an 80 nm layer of PEDOT (PEDOT is a polythiophene derivative (Clevios P 4083 Al) from H. C. Starck, Goslar, which is supplied as an aqueous dispersion) is likewise applied in the clean room by spin coating. The required spin rate depends on the degree of dilution and the specific spincoater geometry (typical for 80 nm:

4500 rpm). To remove residual water from the layer, the substrates are baked for 10 minutes at 180 ° C on a hot plate. Thereafter, under an inert gas atmosphere (nitrogen or argon), 20 nm of an intermediate layer are first spin-coated. In the present case, these are the polymers P1 to P4 or V1, which are processed at a concentration of 5 g / l of toluene. All intermediate layers of these device examples are baked under inert gas for 1 hour at 180 ° C. Subsequently, 65 nm of the polymer layers are applied from toluene solutions (typical concentrations 8 to 12 g / l). This polymer layer is also baked out after spin coating under inert gas, namely for 10 minutes at 180 ° C. Thereafter, the Ba / Al cathode (3 nm / 100 nm) is vapor-deposited in the specified pattern through a vapor-deposition mask

(high-purity metals from Aldrich, especially barium 99.99% (order no.

474 711); Vaporiser by Lesker oa, typical vacuum level 5 x 10 ^{~ 6} mbar). In order to protect especially the cathode from air and humidity, the device is finally encapsulated. The encapsulation of the device takes place by gluing a commercially available coverslip over the pixelated surface. Subsequently, the device is characterized.

For this purpose, the devices are clamped in holders specially made for the substrate size and contacted by means of spring contacts. A photodiode with eye-tracking filter can be placed directly on the measuring holder in order to exclude the influence of extraneous light.

Typically, the voltages are from 0 to max. 20 V in 0.2 V increments and lowered again. For each measurement point, the current through the device and the resulting photocurrent are measured by the photodiode. In this way one obtains the IVL data of the test devices. Important parameters are the measured maximum efficiency ("Max. Eff." In cd / A) and the voltage required for 100 cd / m ² .

In addition, in order to know the color and the exact electroluminescence spectrum of the test devices, the voltage required for 100 cd / m ^{2 is} again applied after the first measurement and the photodiode is replaced by a spectrum measuring head. This is connected by an optical fiber with a spectrometer (Ocean Optics). From the measured spectrum, the color coordinates (CIE: Commission International de l'eclairage, normal viewer of 1931) can be derived.

For the usability of materials of particular importance is the life of the devices. This is measured in one of the initial evaluation very similar measurement setup so that an initial luminance is set (for example, 1000 cd / m ^2). The current required for this luminance is kept constant, while typically the voltage increases and the luminance decreases. The life is reached, though the initial luminance has dropped to 50% of the initial value. If one has determined an extrapolation factor, the lifetimes can also be measured accelerated by setting a higher initial luminance. In this case, the measuring apparatus keeps the current constant so that it shows the electrical degradation of the components in a voltage increase.

Examples 8 to 10

In the manner indicated above, components with 20 nm P1 and P3 and 20 nm V1 are produced and characterized. The light-emitting polymer used is a blue-emitting polymer SPB-036 from Merck. The results are summarized in Table 1. Table 1

Examples 11 to 13:

A further comparison of blue devices is made with Merck's polymer SPB-078. The interlayer used here are the polymers P2 and P4 and the comparative polymer V1. The results are summarized in Table 2. Particularly noteworthy here is the desired better electrical stability of the devices by using the polymers of the invention, which is noticeable in the significantly lower voltage rise during the lifetime measurement. Table 2

Examples 14 and 15:

With white polymers, too, device life improvement, operating voltage reduction, and reduced voltage rise can be achieved. Used here are the interlayer polymers P1 and V1 in combination with the white polymer SPW-110 from Merck.

Table 3

* The lifetime measurement is accelerated, the voltage increase refers to a starting luminance of 2000 cd / m ² .

Examples 16 to 18:

Merck's other white polymer, SPW-138, also manufactures devices in the manner described. Table 4

* The lifetime measurement is accelerated, the voltage increase refers to a starting luminance of 3000 cd / m ² .

As can be seen from the results, the polymers P1 to P4 represent a significant improvement in important parameters of the device. Higher efficiencies, in many cases lower voltages, improved lifetimes, and even for components with extremely low voltage increases, are yet another reduction measured. Especially the latter means that the new polymers according to the invention are significantly better suited for use in displays and lighting applications than polymers according to the prior art, since they have better electrical stability.

Claims

claims

Electro-optical device containing

a) an anode,

b) a cathode,

d) at least one intermediate layer, which is arranged between the at least one emitter layer and the anode, and which contains a polymer with hole-conducting structural units,

characterized in that the polymer with hole-conducting

Electro-optical device according to claim 1, characterized in that the structural units with electron-conducting properties have a LUMO which is lower than the LUMO of the semiconducting organic material of the emitter layer.

Electro-optical device according to Claim 2, characterized in that the LUMO of the structural units having electron-conducting properties is less than -2.3 eV.

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the

Structural units with electron-conducting properties are selected from the group of structural units of the formulas (I) to (IV)

wherein R to R ⁴ each independently represent a hydrogen atom, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic cyclic hydrocarbon group having 6 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic heterocyclic group having 5 to 50 nucleus atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted alkyl group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted cycloalkyl group having 3 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxy group having 1 to 50

Carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted

Aralkyl group having 6 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted aryloxy group having 5 to 50

Carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted arylthio group having 5 to 50 carbon atoms in the nucleus, a substituted or unsubstituted alkoxycarbonyl group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a substituted or unsubstituted silyl group having 1 to 50 carbon atoms, a carboxy group, a

Halogen atom, a cyano group, a nitro group or a

Hydroxy group, and one or more of the pairs R ¹ and R ² , R ³ and R ⁴ , R ⁵ and R ^6, and R ⁷ and R ⁸ optionally

Form ring system. Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the proportion of the structural units having electron-conducting properties in the hole-conducting polymer in the range of 0.01 to 30 mol%.

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the hole-conducting polymer has structural units with hole-conducting properties derived from a triarylamine.

Electro-optical device according to claim 6, characterized in that the triarylamine is selected from the group of structural units of the formulas (19) to (21)

in which

R, which can be identical or different on each occurrence, from H, substituted or unsubstituted aromatic or heteroaromatic group, alkyl group, cycloalkyl group, alkoxy group, aralkyl group, aryloxy group, arylthio group, alkoxycarbonyl group, silyl group, carboxy group, a halogen atom, cyano group,

Nitro group or hydroxy group is selected,

r is 0, 1, 2, 3 or 4 and

s is 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5.

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 7, characterized in that the hole-conducting polymer has repeating structural units derived from a fluorene, spirobifluorene, indenofluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene, dibenzothiophene, dibenzofuran and derivatives thereof.

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 8, characterized in that the semiconductive organic material of the emitter layer is a semiconductive polymer, preferably a semiconductive copolymer.

An electro-optical device according to claim 9, characterized in that the semiconducting copolymer comprises repeating structural units derived from fluorene, spirobifluorene, indenofluorene, phenanthrene, dihydrophenanthrene, phenylene, dibenzothiophene, dibenzofuran, phenylenevinylene and their derivatives, these repeating units being optionally substituted.

11. Electro-optical device according to claim 9 or 10, characterized in that the semiconductive copolymer repeating units derived from triarylamines, preferably repeating units of the formulas (19) to (21) according to claim 7. 2. Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 11, characterized in that they continue a hole injection layer between the anode and

Intermediate layer of hole-conducting polymer is attached, preferably a layer of poly (ethylenedioxothiophene).

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 12, characterized in that it is arranged on a substrate, in particular on a transparent substrate. 14. Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 13, characterized in that it consists only of anode, hole injection layer, intermediate layer, one or more emitter layers, hole blocking layer, electron transport layer and cathode, optionally on a transparent

Substrate is arranged.

Electro-optical device according to one or more of

Claims 1 to 14, characterized in that it is an organic light emitting diode (OLED) or an organic electrochemical cell (OLEC).

Use of the electro-optical device according to one or more of claims 1 to 15 in general illumination backlighting and display devices.

Use of the electro-optical device according to one or more of claims 1 to 16 in therapeutic and / or cosmetic treatment applications.