STTR Phase I: Developing Thiazolothiazole Molecular Materials for Electronic and Photonic Applications

这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括开发用于各种光电应用的高荧光下一代染料化合物。这些新材料提供了一个易于合成和合成可调的平台，用于固态面板照明/标牌和有机发光二极管（OLED）。开发的荧光染料材料将使低成本的印刷工艺和大规模照明和发光行业的制造成为可能。该技术还将使OLED制造从热蒸发工艺过渡到低成本印刷工艺。低成本、高性能、可印刷的染料可以增加面板照明/OLED的使用，通过减少能源使用、降低现有照明技术的价格和新的创新照明产品产生积极的社会影响。这个小企业技术转让（STTR）第一阶段项目旨在开发一系列高荧光化合物，这些化合物将被开发和测试用于印刷照明面板/标牌应用，并作为OLED的蓝色发射体。用于OLED照明和显示器/标牌市场的大规模发光有机材料器件的主要障碍是目前可用的荧光分子化合物在成本、稳定性和可加工性方面的限制。新型高性能材料的高结构可调性、光稳定性和高荧光量子产率使其成为发光分子器件应用的有吸引力的选择。新材料提供了一种易于合成和合成可调的平台，既可用作固态面板照明/标牌的可印刷发射层，又可用作溶液可加工有机发光二极管（OLED）的发光层。建议的研究目标包括生产溶液可加工的光稳定染料，用于固态面板照明，溶解度超过1重量%。在前体制剂中，外量子效率（EQE）大于30%，并且光稳定性超过10，000小时。此外，该团队还将利用这些化合物展示用于OLED的蓝色发光、可印刷的发光层。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project includes the development of highly fluorescent, next generation dye compounds for a variety of optoelectronic applications. The new materials provide an easily synthesized and synthetically tunable platform to function in both solid-state panel lighting/signage and in organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The fluorescent dye materials that are developed will enable low-cost printing processes and manufacturing for large scale lighting and luminescence industries. The technology will also enable OLED manufacturing to transition from thermal evaporation process to low-cost printing processes. The low-cost, high performance, printable dyes may increase panel lighting/OLED use, resulting in positive societal impacts through reduced energy usage, lower prices for existing lighting technologies, and new innovative lighting products. This Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase I project seeks to develop a series of highly fluorescent compounds that will be developed and tested for printed lighting panel/signage applications and as blue emitter for OLEDs. A primary barrier to large-scale, luminescent, organic materials devices for OLED lighting and the display/signage market is the limitations of currently available fluorescent molecular compounds in terms of cost, stability, and processability. The high structural tunability, photostability, and high fluorescence quantum yield of the new, high-performance materials make them an attractive option for luminescent molecular device applications. The new materials provide an easily synthesized and synthetically tunable platform to function both as a printable emissive layer for solid-state panel lighting/signage, and as the light emissive layer for solution processable organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs). The goals of proposed research include the production of solution-processable, photostable dyes for stolid-state panel lighting with solubilities exceeding 1 wt.% in precursor formulations, external quantum efficiencies (EQEs) of greater than 30%, and photostabilities exceeding 10,000 hours. In addition, using these compounds, the team seeks to will demonstrate blue-emissive, printable light-emissive layers for OLEDs.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.