Observation of electroluminescence at room temperature from a ruthenium(II) bis-terpyridine complex and its use for preparing light-emitting electrochemical cells.

A terpyridine ruthenium (II) complex containing a substituted and an unsubstituted terpyridine ligand was synthesized, and its luminescence properties were studied in a solid-state single-layer light-emitting electrochemical cell. The obtained devices emitted light of a very deep red color (CIE, x = 0.717 y = 0.282) at low external applied bias. It is the first example of an electroluminescence device based on a bis-chelated ruthenium complex. Its ambient atmosphere decay is remarkably different from analogous devices using tris-chelated ruthenium complexes.