Narrowband helical emitter with frontier orbital confinement for stable deep-blue hybrid-tandem organic light-emitting diodes

Nature Materials (2026)Cite this article Achieving efficient, stable deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) with high colour purity remains challenging due to the scarcity of emitters combining narrowband emission and high stability. Here we present a multiple-resonance emitter featuring a highly twisted helical configuration with spatially confined frontier molecular orbitals. This emitter decouples radiative transitions from structural distortion while mitigating spectral broadening from carbon–hydrogen bond repulsion and aggregation, exhibiting sharp emission at 460 nm with a full-width at half-maximum of only 12 nm in solution and nearly identical spectra across varying-polarity systems. A unicolour-hybrid-tandem OLED design integrating complementary exciton-harvesting mechanisms to overcome the efficiency–lifetime trade-off is proposed, achieving an external quantum efficiency of 39.7% and a lifetime of 539 h to 90% of 1,000 cd m⁻2 at a chromaticity y coordinate of 0.10. A stacking sequence of emitting units induces a twofold lifetime variation arising from outcoupling efficiency and photoelectric co-ageing differences. This co-engineering strategy advances commercially viable ultrapure-blue OLED displays.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any timeSubscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per yearonly $21.58 per issueBuy this articleUSD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutThe authors declare that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. The X-ray crystallographic coordinates for structures reported in this study have been deposited at the CCDC under deposition numbers 2484150 and 2484151. These data can be obtained free of charge from the CCDC via www.ccdc.cam.ac.uk/data_request/cif. Source data are provided with this paper.Tang, C. W. & VanSlyke, S. A. Organic electroluminescent diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 913–915 (1987).Article CAS Google Scholar Hong, G. et al. A brief history of OLEDs—emitter development and industry milestones. Adv. Mater. 33, 2005630 (2021).Article CAS Google Scholar Monkman, A. Why do we still need a stable long lifetime deep blue OLED emitter? ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 14, 20463–20467 (2022).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Im, Y. et al. Recent progress in high-efficiency blue-light-emitting materials for organic light-emitting diodes. Adv. Funct. Mater. 27, 1603007 (2017).Article Google Scholar Gao, C. et al. Application of triplet–triplet annihilation upconversion in organic optoelectronic devices: advances and perspectives. Adv. Mater. 33, 2100704 (2021).Article CAS Google Scholar Lim, H., Woo, S.-J., Ha, Y. H., Kim, Y.-H. & Kim, J.-J. Breaking the efficiency limit of deep-blue fluorescent OLEDs based on anthracene derivatives. Adv. Mater. 34, 2100161 (2022).Article CAS Google Scholar Li, G., Chu, Q., Yao, H., Wu, K. & She, Y.-B. High-performance deep-blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes enabled by a platinum(ii) emitter. Nat. Photon. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01706-0 (2025).Article Google Scholar Jung, Y. H. et al. Modified t-butyl in tetradentate platinum(II) complexes enables exceptional lifetime for blue-phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. Nat. Commun. 15, 2977 (2024).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Sun, J. et al. Exceptionally stable blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes. Nat. Photon. 16, 212–218 (2022).Article CAS Google Scholar Uoyama, H., Goushi, K., Shizu, K., Nomura, H. & Adachi, C. Highly efficient organic light-emitting diodes from delayed fluorescence. Nature 492, 234–238 (2012).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Huang, T. et al. Delocalizing electron distribution in thermally activated delayed fluorophors for high-efficiency and long-lifetime blue electroluminescence. Nat. Mater. 23, 1523–1530 (2024).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Huang, T. et al. Enhancing the efficiency and stability of blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters by perdeuteration. Nat. Photon. 18, 516–523 (2024).Article CAS Google Scholar Jeon, S. O. et al. High-efficiency, long-lifetime deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes. Nat. Photon. 15, 208–215 (2021).Article CAS Google Scholar Tang, X. et al. Highly efficient luminescence from space-confined charge-transfer emitters. Nat. Mater. 19, 1332–1338 (2020).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Chan, C. Y. et al. Stable pure-blue hyperfluorescence organic light-emitting diodes with high-efficiency and narrow emission. Nat. Photon. 15, 203–207 (2021).Article CAS Google Scholar Sachnik, O. et al. Pure-blue single-layer organic light-emitting diodes based on trap-free hyperfluorescence. Nat. Mater. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02294-8 (2025).Lee, H. et al. Superbly efficient and stable ultrapure blue phosphorescent organic light-emitting diodes with tetradentate Pt(II) complex with vibration suppression effect. Adv. Mater. 36, 2409394 (2024).Article CAS Google Scholar Zhang, D., Song, X., Cai, M. & Duan, L. Blocking energy-loss pathways for ideal fluorescent organic light-emitting diodes with thermally activated delayed fluorescent sensitizers. Adv. Mater. 30, 1705250 (2018).Article Google Scholar Kim, E. et al. Highly efficient and stable deep-blue organic light-emitting diode using phosphor-sensitized thermally activated delayed fluorescence. Sci. Adv. 8, eabq1641 (2022).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Liao, L. S., Klubek, K. P. & Tang, C. W. High-efficiency tandem organic light-emitting diodes. Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 167–169 (2004).Article CAS Google Scholar Matsumoto, T. et al. 27.5L: late-news paper: multiphoton organic EL device having charge generation layer. SID Symp. Dig. Tech. Pap. 34, 979–981 (2003).Article CAS Google Scholar Zhao, H., Arneson, C. E., Fan, D. & Forrest, S. R. Stable blue phosphorescent organic LEDs that use polariton-enhanced Purcell effects. Nature 626, 300–305 (2024).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Zhao, H., Arneson, C. E. & Forrest, S. R. Stable, deep blue tandem phosphorescent organic light-emitting diode enabled by the double-sided polariton-enhanced Purcell effect. Nat. Photon. 19, 607–614 (2025).Article Google Scholar Zhao, H., Qu, B. & Forrest, S. R. Understanding and controlling the formation of nonradiative defects in blue organic triplet emitters. Phys. Rev. X 14, 041044 (2024).CAS Google Scholar Giebink, N. C. et al. Intrinsic luminance loss in phosphorescent small-molecule organic light emitting devices due to bimolecular annihilation reactions. J. Appl. Phys. 103, 044509 (2008).Article Google Scholar Wang, D., Cheng, C., Tsuboi, T. & Zhang, Q. Degradation mechanisms in blue organic light-emitting diodes. CCS Chem. 2, 1278–1296 (2020).Article CAS Google Scholar Meng, G. Y. et al. Highly efficient and stable deep-blue OLEDs based on narrowband emitters featuring an orthogonal spiro-configured indolo[3,2,1-de]acridine structure. Chem. Sci. 13, 5622–5630 (2022).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Fan, X. et al. RGB thermally activated delayed fluorescence emitters for organic light-emitting diodes toward realizing the BT. 2020 Standard. Adv. Sci. 10, 2303504 (2023).CAS Google Scholar Arnault, E. et al. Phototoxic action spectrum on a retinal pigment epithelium model of age-related macular degeneration exposed to sunlight normalized conditions. PLoS One 8, e71398 (2013).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Hua, T. et al. Deep-blue organic light-emitting diodes for ultrahigh-definition displays. Nat. Photon. 18, 1161–1169 (2024).Article CAS Google Scholar Cheng, Y. C. et al. High-efficiency and high color purity solution-processable deep-blue OLEDs enabled by linearly fully fused acceptor–donor–acceptor molecular design. Adv. Mater. 37, 2500010 (2025).Article CAS Google Scholar Cho, H.-H. et al. Suppression of Dexter transfer by covalent encapsulation for efficient matrix-free narrowband deep blue hyperfluorescent OLEDs. Nat. Mater. 23, 519–526 (2024).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Mubarok, H. et al. Triptycene-fused sterically shielded multi-resonance TADF emitter enables high-efficiency deep blue OLEDs with reduced Dexter energy transfer. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 62, e202306879 (2023).Article CAS Google Scholar Kondo, Y. et al. Narrowband deep-blue organic light-emitting diode featuring an organoboron-based emitter. Nat. Photon. 13, 678–682 (2019).Article CAS Google Scholar Yang, M., Park, I. S. & Yasuda, T. Full-color, narrowband, and high-efficiency electroluminescence from boron and carbazole embedded polycyclic heteroaromatics. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 142, 19468–19472 (2020).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Hatakeyama, T. et al. Ultrapure blue thermally activated delayed fluorescence molecules: efficient HOMO–LUMO separation by the multiple resonance effect. Adv. Mater. 28, 2777–2781 (2016).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Xu, Y. et al. Highly efficient electroluminescent materials with high color purity based on strong acceptor attachment onto B–N-containing multiple resonance frameworks. CCS Chem. 4, 2065–2079 (2021).Article Google Scholar Wu, X., Ni, S., Wang, C.-H., Zhu, W. & Chou, P.-T. Comprehensive review on the structural diversity and versatility of multi-resonance fluorescence emitters: advance, challenges, and prospects toward OLEDs. Chem. Rev. 125, 6685–6752 (2025).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Lu, T. A comprehensive electron wavefunction analysis toolbox for chemists, Multiwfn. J. Chem. Phys. 161, 082503 (2024).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Lu, T. & Chen, F. Multiwfn: a multifunctional wavefunction analyzer. J. Comput. Chem. 33, 580–592 (2012).Article PubMed Google Scholar Shuai, Z. Thermal vibration correlation function formalism for molecular excited state decay rates. Chin. J. Chem. 38, 1223–1232 (2020).Article CAS Google Scholar Shuai, Z. & Peng, Q. Organic light-emitting diodes: theoretical understanding of highly efficient materials and development of computational methodology. Nat. Sci. Rev. 4, 224–239 (2017).Article CAS Google Scholar Zhang, H. et al. Fast reverse intersystem crossing over 107 s−1 via near-enantiomeric charge-transfer transitions. Chem 12, 102685 (2026).Li, X. et al. High-efficiency and stable tandem organic light-emitting diodes based on in situ coordination-activated n-doping. Adv. Funct. Mater. 35, 2500409 (2025).Article CAS Google Scholar Liu, Z. et al. In situ-formed tetrahedrally coordinated double-helical metal complexes for improved coordination-activated n-doping. Nat. Commun. 13, 1215 (2022).Article CAS PubMed PubMed Central Google Scholar Fusella, M. A. et al. Plasmonic enhancement of stability and brightness in organic light-emitting devices. Nature 585, 379–382 (2020).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Santoro, F., Lami, A., Improta, R., Bloino, J. & Barone, V. Effective method for the computation of optical spectra of large molecules at finite temperature including the Duschinsky and Herzberg-Teller effect: the Qx band of porphyrin as a case study. J. Chem. Phys. 128, 224311 (2008).Article PubMed Google Scholar Humphrey, W., Dalke, A. & Schulten, K. VMD: visual molecular dynamics. J. Mol. Graph. 14, 33–38 (1996).Article CAS PubMed Google Scholar Download referencesThis work was supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (grant number 2024YFB361210 to L.D.) and the National Science Fund of China (grant numbers 52573200, U25A20569 and 52222308 to D.Z. and 22135004 to L.D.).These authors contributed equally: Chuanqin Cheng, Minqiang Mai.Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics and Molecular Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, ChinaChuanqin Cheng, Minqiang Mai, Chenglong Li, Dongdong Zhang & Lian DuanLaboratory of Flexible Electronics Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, ChinaLian DuanSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarL.D. and D.Z. conceived of and supervised this project. D.Z. proposed the molecule design concept and devised the experiments. C.C. synthesized and characterized the MR emitter. C.C., M.M. and C.L. performed the theoretical calculations, photophysical characterization, OLED fabrication and measurements. D.Z. and L.D. analysed the results and wrote the paper.Correspondence to Dongdong Zhang or Lian Duan.The authors declare no competing interests.Nature Materials thanks Chuluo Yang and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this workPublisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Supplementary Notes 1 and 2, Figs. 1–41 and Tables 1–10.Original data of Fig. 1.Original data of Fig. 2.Original data of Fig. 3.Original data of Fig. 4.Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.Reprints and permissionsCheng, C., Mai, M., Li, C. et al. Narrowband helical emitter with frontier orbital confinement for stable deep-blue hybrid-tandem organic light-emitting diodes. Nat. Mater. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02529-2Download citationReceived: 22 September 2025Accepted: 03 February 2026Published: 27 March 2026Version of record: 27 March 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-026-02529-2Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative