The Golden Age of Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials: Design and Exploitation

Since the seminal report by Adachi and co-workers in 2012, there has been a
veritable explosion of interest in the design of thermally activated delayed fluorescence
(TADF) compounds, particularly as emitters for organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs).
With rapid advancements and innovation in materials design, the efficiencies of TADF
OLEDs for each of the primary color points as well as for white devices now rival those of
state-of-the-art phosphorescent emitters. Beyond electroluminescent devices, TADF
compounds have also found increasing utility and applications in numerous related fields,
from photocatalysis, to sensing, to imaging and beyond. Following from our previous review
in 2017 (Adv. Mater. 2017, 1605444), we here comprehensively document subsequent advances made in TADF materials design and
their uses from 2017−2022. Correlations highlighted between structure and properties as well as detailed comparisons and analyses
should assist future TADF materials development. The necessarily broadened breadth and scope of this review attests to the bustling
activity in this field. We note that the rapidly expanding and accelerating research activity in TADF material development is
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indicative of a field that has reached adolescence, with an exciting maturity still yet to come.