Electroluminescent Warm White Light‐Emitting Diodes Based on Passivation Enabled Bright Red Bandgap Emission Carbon Quantum Dots

Abstract

The development of efficient red bandgap emission carbon quantum dots (CQDs) for realizing high‐performance electroluminescent warm white light‐emitting diodes (warm‐WLEDs) represents a grand challenge. Here, the synthesis of three red‐emissive electron‐donating group passivated CQDs (R‐EGP‐CQDs): R‐EGP‐CQDs‐NMe ₂, ‐NEt ₂, and ‐NPr ₂ is reported. The R‐EGP‐CQDs, well soluble in common organic solvents, display bright red bandgap emission at 637, 642, and 645 nm, respectively, reaching the highest photoluminescence quantum yield (QY) up to 86.0% in ethanol. Theoretical investigations reveal that the red bandgap emission originates from the rigid π‐conjugated skeleton structure, and the ‐NMe ₂, ‐NEt ₂, and ‐NPr ₂ passivation plays a key role in inducing charge transfer excited state in the π‐conjugated structure to afford the high QY. Solution‐processed electroluminescent warm‐WLEDs based on the R‐EGP‐CQDs‐NMe ₂, ‐NEt ₂, and ‐NPr ₂ display voltage‐stable warm white spectra with a maximum luminance of 5248–5909 cd m ⁻² and a current efficiency of 3.65–3.85 cd A ⁻¹. The warm‐WLEDs also show good long‐term operational stability ( L/ L ₀ > 80% after 50 h operation, L ₀: 1000 cd m ⁻²). The electron‐donating group passivation strategy opens a new avenue to realizing efficient red bandgap emission CQDs and developing high‐performance electroluminescent warm‐WLEDs.