New AIEgens containing dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide and tetraphenylethene moieties: Similar structures but very different hole/electron transport properties

Three AIEgens were designed and constructed using tetraphenylethene and dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide, which show good thermal stability as verified by thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analyses. Single-carrier devices indicate that the control of the transport properties of these AIEgens can be realized by conveniently modifying the linkage mode of their two construction blocks. The obtained experimental results might open up a new option for the design of efficient blue AIEgens. Furthermore, when they are utilized as sky-blue emitting layers in OLEDs, the devices exhibit the highest efficiencies with the maximum external quantum efficiency of 3.62%, current efficiency of 8.66 cd A^-1 and power efficiency of 5.28 lm W^-1.