Novel europium complex for electroluminescent devices with sharp red emission

A volatile Eu complex, Eu(TTA) 3 (phen) (TTA=thenoyltrifluoroacetone, phen=1,10-phenanthroline), was synthesized and applied to an electroluminescent (EL) cell structure of [ITO(=indium-tin-oxide)/hole transporting layer/emitting layer (host material=azomethin zinc complex, and dopant= Eu(TTA) 3 (phen))/MgIn]. The emitting layers were formed by a codeposition technique. A red emission (EL peak wavelength 614 nm) with a very sharp spectral band was observed from the EL cell with 5 wt% Eu(TTA) 3 (phen), and a maximum luminance of 137 cd/m 2 was achieved.