Boosting the Phosphorescence Efficiency in Doped Organic Crystals: Critical Role of Hydrogen Bonding.

Host-guest doping systems with phthalimides () and -methylphthalimide () as the host and 1,8-naphthalimide () and 4-bromo-1,8-naphthalimide () as the guest have been developed. The 0.2% (molar ratio) with a strong C=O···H-N hydrogen bond exhibited a phosphorescence quantum efficiency (29.2%) higher than that of with a weak C=O···H-C hydrogen bond (10.1%). A similar trend was observed in the guest system. A remarkable phosphorescent efficiency of 42.1% was achieved in a 0.5% composite, which represents the highest value in -based phosphors. This research indicates stronger hydrogen bonding may have a greater contribution in boosting the phosphorescence efficiency.