Photo- and electroluminescent properties of zinc(II) complexes with tetradentate Schiff bases, derivatives of salicylic aldehyde

It is studied how the introduction of various substituents into the composition of organic ligands affects the photoluminescence spectra of new zinc(II) complexes with tetradentate Schiff bases H2L (derivatives of salicylic aldehyde (H2SAL1, H2SAL2) and o-vanillin (H2MO1, H2MO2) with ethylenediamine and o-phenylenediamine) in the form of bulk solids and thin films. It is demonstrated that the emission spectra of bulk solid complexes without o-phenylenediamine bridges (ZnSAL1 and ZnMO1) contain additional long-wavelength bands compared to the spectra of corresponding thin films. In the case of films obtained from [ZnSAL1]2 dimer complexes, the long-wavelength band is dominant. At the same time, the photoluminescence spectra of ZnSAL2 and ZnMO2 complexes with o-phenylenediamine bridges are similar in the case of solid samples and thin films. The electroluminescent properties of organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with the ITO/α-NPD/ZnL/Ca:Al structure are studied. The bathochromic shift of the electroluminescence peaks of OLEDs with respect to the photoluminescence spectra of bulk solid samples and thin films is probably related to the formation of exciplexes at the α-NPD/ZnL interface. The electroluminescence spectra of OLEDs based on [ZnSAL1]2 show a hypsochromic shift of the emission maximum, which can be caused by a shift of the recombination region into the α-NPD layer.