Bipolar copolymers comprised mesogen‐jacketed polymer containing oxadiazole units and PVK as host materials for electroluminescent devices

Nonconjugated bipolar transport polymers have been developed as host materials for electroluminescent devices by incorporating both electron‐transporting and hole‐transporting functionalities into copolymers. The random copolymer PCt‐nvk3‐7 containing mesogen‐jacketed segment of P‐Ct have been synthesized and characterized. The effect of mesogen‐jacketed segment content of these bipolar copolymers on device performance has been investigated. The results of polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) show that the jacketed content of copolymers has a significant effect on device performance: lowering charge transport and facilitating the hole‐electron recombination leads to much higher current efficiency. Applying these high triplet random copolymers as host, the maximum current efficiency of 0.70 cd/A and the maximum brightness of 1872.8 cd/m² was achieved for PCt‐nvk3‐7 with an orange‐emitting complex dopant. The results suggest that the bipolar copolymers PCt‐nvks can be good host polymers for electrophosphorescent devices. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 7861–7867, 2008     

Bipolar copoly(aryl ether) containing distyrylbenzene,triphenylamine, and 1,2,4‐triazole moieties: Synthesis and optoelectronic properties

A novel copoly(aryl ether) ( P1 ) consisting of alternate emitting segments (distyrylbenzene) and a bipolar moiety composed of directly linked electron‐transporting aromatic 1,2,4‐triazole and hole‐transporting triphenylamine was synthesized. The copoly(aryl ether) is readily soluble in common organic solvents and exhibit good thermal stability with thermal decomposition temperature above 450 °C. The emission and the photoluminescence quantum yield of the copolymer are dominated by the emitting segments (distyrylbenzene) with longer emissive wavelength. Electron affinity of P1 is evidently enhanced after introducing the isolated bipolar unit, as confirmed by the lowered lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level (–2.77 eV) relative to P0 without bipolar unit (–2.34 eV). This results in improved emission efficiency of its polymer light‐emitting diode (indium tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)/ P1 /LiF/Ca/Al) due to more balanced charges injection and transport. Blending P1 with poly(9,9‐dihexylfluorene) ( PF ) further improves the efficiency of the device; the best performance was obtained for PF / P1 = 20/0.8 (w/w) with maximum luminance and maximum luminance efficiency being significantly enhanced to 3260 cd/m² and 1.08 cd/A, respectively, from 380 cd/m² and 0.009 cd/A of P1 ‐based device. These results demonstrate that the bipolar moiety can be used to enhance charges injection and transport of electroluminescent polymers. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Copolyfluorenes containing pendant bipolar carbazole and 1,2,4‐triazole groups: Synthesis,characterization, and optoelectronic applications

Three novel copolyfluorenes ( P1 ‐ P3 ) containing pendant bipolar groups (2.5–7.7 mol %), directly linked hole‐transporting carbazole and electron‐transporting aromatic 1,2,4‐triazole, were synthesized by the Suzuki coupling reaction and applied to enhance emission efficiency of polymer light‐emitting diodes based on conventional MEH‐PPV. The bipolar groups not only suppress undesirable green emission of polyfluorene under thermal annealing, but also promote electron‐ and hole‐affinity of the resulting copolyfluorenes. Blending the bipolar copolyfluorenes with MEH‐PPV results in significant enhancement of device performance [ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MEH‐PPV+ P1 , P2 or P3 /Ca(50 nm)/Al(100 nm)]. The maximum luminance and luminance efficiency were enhanced from 3230 cd/m² and 0.29 cd/A of MEH‐PPV‐only device to 15,690 cd/m² and 0.81 cd/A (blend device with MEH‐PPV/ P3 = 94/6 containing about 0.46 wt % of pendant bipolar residues), respectively. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of the bipolar copolyfluorenes in enhancing emission efficiency of MEH‐PPV. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Synthesis and optoelectronic properties of alternating benzofuran/terfluorene copolymer with stable blue emission

The solution processable alternating benzofuran/terfluorene copolymer bearing side oxadiazole groups ( PBF‐OXD ) was synthesized and its optoelectronic properties and color stability were investigated. Electron‐deficient and stereohindered oxadiazole units were used as pendent groups to compensate for the poor electron‐transporting ability of a p‐type polymer backbone, to depress the intermolecular π‐stacking, and to improve solubility while retaining polymer blue emission. PBF‐OXD showed a glass transition at 135 °C and an onset decomposition temperature of ～345 °C. A simple EL device, with the configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ PBF‐OXD /Ba/Al, displayed a stable blue emission (λ_max = 434 nm), good color purity (full width half‐maximum = 59 nm), maximum brightness of 1400 cd/m², and a maximum luminance efficiency of 0.95 cd/A. The PL and EL spectra changed slightly on annealing and on increasing the applied voltage. These results show that the as‐synthesized copolymer PBF‐OXD had integrated respective functions of its different building blocks and exhibited good thermal and color stability with improved EL performance. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 5488–5497, 2009     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(fluorene)‐based copolymers containing various 1,3,4‐oxadiazole pendants

A series of soluble alternating poly(fluorene)‐based copolymers containing electron‐transporting 1,3,4‐oxadiazole (OXD) and hole‐transporting carbazole pendants attached to the C‐9 position of fluorene units by long alkyl spacers were synthesized. These copolymers possess mesogenic and nonmesogenic pendants attached to a rigid mesogenic poly(fluorene) (PF) backbone. All these polymers exhibit glass‐forming liquid crystalline properties, including the nematic and smectic A (SmA) phases, and reveal much wider mesophasic temperature ranges than that of PF. The thermal properties and mesomorphism of these conjugated polymers are mainly affected by the nature of these pendants, and thus the mesophasic temperature ranges and glass‐forming properties are greatly enhanced by introducing the OXD pendants. In addition, the tendencies of crystallization and aggregation of PF are also suppressed by introducing the OXD pendants. A single layer device with P4 as an emitter shows a turn‐on voltage of 5 V and a bright luminescence of 2694 cd/m² at 11 V with a power efficiency of 1.28 cd/A at 100 mA/cm². © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 2700–2711, 2005     

Characteristics of a single‐layered organic electroluminescent device using a carrier‐transporting copolymer and a nonconjugated light‐emitting polymer

We have synthesized a novel carrier‐transporting copolymer and a nonconjugated light‐emitting polymer. The carrier‐transporting copolymer has a triphenylamine moiety as a hole‐transporting unit and a triazine moiety as an electron‐transporting unit, both of which are located in the polymer side chain. The nonconjugated light‐emitting polymer has a perylene moiety, which acts as an emitting unit in the polymer side chain. These polymers are very soluble in most organic solvents, such as monochlorobenzene, tetrahydrofuran, chloroform, and benzene. A single‐layered electroluminescent device consisting of ITO/copolymer and emitting‐material 4‐(dicyanomethylene)‐2‐methyl‐6‐(4‐dimethylaminostyryl)‐4H‐pyran (DCM) or light‐emitting polymer)/Al mixtures exhibits maximum external quantum efficiency when the concentration of the emitting material is 30 wt %. The device emits red or blue light according to the emitting material. When CsF is used as the electron‐injecting material, the drive voltage decreases drastically to 7 V, and the highest quantum efficiency is 0.5%. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2733–2743, 2003     

Conjugated copolymers comprised cyanophenyl‐substituted spirobifluorene and tricarbazole‐triphenylamine repeat units for blue‐light‐emitting diodes

A series of conjugated blue‐light‐emitting copolymers, PTC‐1 , PTC‐2 , and PTC‐3, comprised different ratios of electron‐withdrawing segments (spirobifluorene substituted with cyanophenyl groups) and electron‐donating segments (tricarbazole‐triphenylamines), has been synthesized. The structures of these polymers were characterized and their thermal, photophysical, electrochemical, and electroluminescence properties were measured. Incorporation of rigid spirobifluorene units into the copolymers led to blue‐shifted absorption peaks in dilute toluene solution. Cyclic voltammetric measurement indicated the bandgaps of the polymers were in the range of 2.77–2.94 eV. It was found that increasing cyanophenyl‐spirobifluorene content in the polymer backbone lowered both the HOMO and LUMO energy levels of the copolymers, which was beneficial for electron injection/transporting in the polymer layer of the device. OLED device evaluation indicated that all the polymers emitted sky blue to deep blue light when the pure polymers were used as the emissive layers in the devices with a configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymers/CsF/Ca/Al. The devices have been optimized by doping 30 wt % PBD into the polymer layers. Among the doped devices, PTC‐2 showed the best performance with the turn‐on voltage of 3.0 V, maximum brightness of 7257 cd/m², maximum current efficiency of 1.76 cd/A, and CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.14). © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 292–301, 2010     

Synthesis and characterization of poly(fluorene‐co‐alt‐phenylene) containing 1,3,4‐oxadiazole dendritic pendants

A series of poly(fluorene‐co‐alt‐phenylene)s containing various generations of dendritic oxadiazole (OXD) pendent wedges were synthesized by the Suzuki polycondensation of OXD‐functionalized 1,4‐dibromophenylene with 9,9‐dihexylfluorene‐2,7‐diboronic ester. The obtained polymers possessed excellent solubility in common solvents and good thermal stability. Photophysical studies showed that the dendronized polymers appended with higher generations of OXD dendrons exhibited enhanced photoluminescence efficiencies and narrower values of the full width at half‐maximum. This was attributed to the shielding effect induced by the bulky dendritic OXD side chains, which prevented self‐quenching and suppressed the formation of aggregates/excimers. The energy transfer from the OXD dendrons to the polymer backbones was very efficient when excitation of the peripheral OXD dendrons resulted mainly in the polymer backbone emission alone. In particular, the photoluminescence emission intensities by the sensitized excitations of OXD dendrons in solid films of the polymers were all stronger than those by the direct excitations of their polymer conjugated backbones. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6765–6774, 2006     

Copoly(p‐phenylene)s containing bipolar triphenylamine and 1,2,4‐triazole groups: Synthesis,optoelectronic properties,and applications

Two novel copoly(p‐phenylene)s ( P1 – P2 ) containing bipolar groups (12.8 and 6.8 mol %, respectively), directly linked hole transporting triphenylamine and electron transporting aromatic 1,2,4‐triazole, were synthesized to enhance electroluminescence (EL) of poly(p‐phenylene vinylene) (PPV) derivatives. The bipolar groups not only enhance thermal stability but also promote electron affinity and hole affinity of the resulting copoly(p‐phenylene)s. Blending the bipolar copoly‐(p‐phenylene)s ( P1 – P2 ) with PPV derivatives ( d6‐PPV ) as an emitting layer effectively improve the emission efficiency of its electroluminescent devices [indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT):poly(styrenesulfonate) (PSS)/polymer blend/Ca (50 nm)/Al (100 nm)]. The maximum luminance and maximum luminance efficiency were significantly enhanced from 310 cd m^?2 and 0.03 cd A^?1 ( d6‐PPV ‐based device) to 1450 cd m^?2 and 0.20 cd A^?1 (blend device with d6‐PPV / P1 = 96/4 containing ～0.5 wt % of bipolar groups), respectively. Our results demonstrate the efficacy of the copoly(p‐phenylene)s with bipolar groups in enhancing EL of PPV derivatives. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Design,synthesis, photophysical,and electrochemical properties of DCM‐based conjugated polymers for light‐emitting devices

A series of conjugated hyperbranched polymers, hyperbranched copolymers, and linear polymers containing 2‐pyran‐4‐ylidenemalononitrile (acceptor) and triphenylamine/fluorene (donor) units were synthesized and characterized by FTIR, ¹H NMR, thermogravimetric analyses, differential scanning calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography, UV–visible, photoluminescence, and cyclic voltammetry measurements. All the polymers show red‐light emission in the range of 566–656 nm both in solution and in solid state. The quantum efficiency of the polymers was in the range of 56–82%. Among the six polymers synthesized, only polymers containing fluorene units show T_g and polymers based on triphenylamine not exhibit T_g. The band gap of these polymers were found to be reasonably low; hyperbranched copolymer containing fluorene unit shows lowest band gap of 2.18 eV due to the stabilization of LUMO energy level by the electron withdrawing ? CN groups. The thermal and solubility behavior of the polymers were found to be good. All the EL spectra of the devices (indium‐tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate)/polymer/2,9‐dimethyl‐4,7‐diphenyl‐1,10‐phenanthroline/tris(8‐hydroxyquinoline)aluminum)/LiF/Al) show red‐light emission, and the device fabricated with P3 and P4 shows maximum luminance and luminous efficiency of 4104 cd m^?2 and 0.55 cd Å^?1 and 3696 cd m^?2 and 0.47 cd Å^?1, respectively, indicates that they had the best carrier balance. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Copolyphenylenes with pendant benzimidazolyl and diethanolaminohexyloxy groups: Synthesis and electron‐transporting application in PLEDs

Two new electron‐transporting copolyphenylenes P1NH and P2NH possessing balanced charges crucial to emission efficiency of polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) have been synthesized and applied as an electron‐transporting layer (ETL). The main chain structure is all para‐linkage for P1NH and both para‐ and meta‐linkage for P2NH , with the same pendant electron‐withdrawing benzimidazolyl and polar diethanolaminohexyloxy groups. Both copolymers possess excellent thermal stability (T _d > 300 °C, T _g > 100 °C) due to their rigid backbones. In addition, the pendant groups effectively lower LUMO (～ ?2.70 eV) and HOMO (～ ?5.70 eV) levels, resulting in improved electron‐transporting and hole‐blocking capabilities. Multilayer yellow‐emitting PLEDs with a configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/SY/ETL/LiF/Al were successfully fabricated by the spin‐coating process. The maximum luminance and maximum current efficiency of the P1NH ‐based device were 12,881 cd/m² and 10.94 cd/A, respectively, superior to the performance of P2NH ‐based device (4938 cd/m², 3.70 cd/A) and the device without ETL (8690 cd/m², 2.78 cd/A). Current results indicate that P1NH is highly effective in enhancing electron transport and device performance. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 2494–2505     

Synthesis,photophysics, and electroluminescent performance of stable blue‐light‐emitting copoly(9,9‐diarylfluorene)s

A series of fluorene derivatives containing nonsymmetric and bulky aromatic groups at C‐9 position were synthesized and used for the preparation of blue‐light‐emitting copolyfluorenes ( P1 – P4 ) by the Suzuki coupling polycondensation. The copolymers were characterized by molecular weight determination, elemental analysis, differential scanning calorimeter, thermogravimetric analysis, absorption and emission spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and differential pulse voltammetry. Their decomposition temperatures and glass transition temperatures are 423–441 °C and >120 °C, respectively. In film state, the copolyfluorenes exhibit blue photoluminescence at 425–450 nm, which remains almost unchanged after annealing at 200 °C in air for 60 min. Polymer light‐emitting diodes [ITO/PEDOT:PSS/ P1 – P4 /Ca(50 nm)/Al(100 nm)] show stable blue‐light emission under device operation with the CIE co‐ordinates being between (0.16, 0.07) and (0.17, 0.09). The light‐emitting diodes devices from P1 and P3 containing electron‐deficient oxadiazole units display enhanced performance, with the maximum brightness and maximum current efficiency being (4510 cd/m² and 2.40 cd/A) and (2930 cd/m², 1.19 cd/A), respectively. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 2821–2834, 2009     

Synthesis of fluorene‐based hyperbranched polymers for solution‐processable blue,green, red,and white light‐emitting devices

For the purpose of making hyperbranched polymer (Hb‐Ps)‐based red, green, blue, and white polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs), three Hb‐Ps Hb‐ terfluorene ( Hb‐TF ), Hb ‐4,7‐bis(9,9′‐dioctylfluoren‐2‐yl)‐2,1,3‐benzothiodiazole ( Hb‐BFBT ), and Hb‐ 4,7‐bis[(9,9′‐dioctylfluoren‐2‐yl)‐thien‐2‐yl]‐2,1,3‐benzothiodiazole ( Hb‐BFTBT ) were synthesized via [2+2+2] polycyclotrimerization of the corresponding diacetylene‐functionalized monomers. All the synthesized polymers showed excellent thermal stability with degradation temperature higher than 355 °C and glass transition temperatures higher than 50 °C. Photoluminance (PL) and electroluminance (EL) spectra of the polymers indicate that Hb‐TF , Hb‐BFBT , and Hb‐BFTBT are blue‐green, green, and red emitting materials. Maximum brightness of the double‐layer devices of Hb‐TF , Hb‐BFBT , and Hb‐BFTBT with the device configuration of indium tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)/light‐emitting polymer/CsF/Al are 48, 42, and 29 cd/m²; the maximum luminance efficiency of the devices are 0.01, 0.02, and 0.01 cd/A. By using host–guest doped system, saturated red electrophosphorescent devices with a maximum luminance efficiency of 1.61 cd/A were obtained when Hb‐TF was used as a host material doped with Os(fptz)₂(PPh₂Me₂)₂ as a guest material. A maximum luminance efficiency of 3.39 cd/A of a red polymer light‐emitting device was also reached when Hb‐BFTBT was used as the guest in the PFO (Poly(9,9‐dioctylfluorene)) host layer. In addition, a series of efficient white devices were, which show low turn‐on voltage (3.5 V) with highest luminance efficiency of 4.98 cd/A, maximum brightness of 1185 cd/m², and the Commission Internationale de l'Eclairage (CIE) coordinates close to ideal white emission (0.33, 0.33), were prepared by using BFBT as auxiliary dopant. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2012     

Synthesis and characterization of a polyfluorene containing carbazole and oxadiazole dipolar pendent groups and its application to electroluminescent devices

We have synthesized a blue‐light‐emitting polyfluorene (PF) derivative ( PF‐CBZ‐OXD ) that presents bulky hole‐transporting carbazole and electron‐transporting oxadiazole pendent groups functionalized at the C‐9 positions of alternating fluorene units. The results from photoluminescence and electrochemical measurements indicate that both the side chains and the PF main chain retain their own electronic characteristics in the copolymer. An electroluminescent device incorporating this polymer as the emitting layer was turned on at 4.5 V; it exhibited a stable blue emission with a maximum external quantum efficiency of 1.1%. Moreover, we doped PF‐CBZ‐OXD and its analogue PF‐TPA‐OXD with a red‐light‐emitting iridium phosphor for use as components of phosphorescent red‐light emitters to investigate the effect of the host's HOMO energy level on the degree of charge trapping and on the electrophosphorescent efficiency. We found that spectral overlap and individual energy level matching between the host and guest were both crucial features affecting the performance of the electroluminescence devices. Atomic force microscopy measurements indicated that the dipolar nature of PF‐CBZ‐OXD , in contrast to the general nonpolarity of polydialkylfluorenes, provided a stabilizing environment that allowed homogeneous dispersion of the polar iridium triplet dopant. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 2925–2937, 2007     

Enhanced efficiency of polyfluorene derivatives: Organic–inorganic hybrid polymer light‐emitting diodes

Two novel organic–inorganic hybrid polyfluorene derivatives, poly{(9,9′‐dioctyl‐2,7‐fluorene)‐co‐(9,9′‐di‐POSS‐2,7‐fluorene)‐co‐[2,5‐bis(octyloxy)‐1,4‐phenylene]} (PFDOPPOSS) and poly{(9,9′‐dioctyl‐2,7‐fluorene)‐co‐(9,9′‐di‐POSS‐2,7‐fluorene)‐co‐bithiophene} (PFT2POSS), were synthesized by the Pd‐catalyzed Suzuki reaction of polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) appended fluorene, dioctyl phenylene, and bithiophene moieties. The synthesized polymers were characterized with ¹H NMR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. Photoluminescence (PL) studies showed that the incorporation of the POSS pendant into the polyfluorene derivatives significantly enhanced the fluorescence quantum yields of the polymer films, likely via a reduction in the degree of interchain interaction as well as keto formation. Additionally, the blue‐light‐emitting polyfluorene derivative PFDOPPOSS showed high thermal color stability in PL. Moreover, single‐layer light‐emitting diode devices of an indium tin oxide/poly(3,4‐ethylene dioxythiophene):poly(styrene sulfonate)/polymer/Ca/Al configuration fabricated with PFDOPPOSS and PFT2POSS showed much improved brightness, maximum luminescence intensity, and quantum efficiency in comparison with devices fabricated with the corresponding pristine polymers PFDOP and PFT2. In particular, the maximum external quantum efficiency of PFT2POSS was 0.13%, which was twice that of PFT2 (0.06%), and the maximum current efficiency of PFT2POSS was 0.38 cd/A, which again was twice that of PFT2 (0.19 cd/A). © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 2943–2954, 2006     

Synthesis and light emitting properties of polyacetylenes having pendent fluorene groups

Five novel fluorene‐containing polymers, poly[(9,9‐dimethylfluoren‐2‐yl)acetylene] ( PFA1 ), poly[(1‐pentyl‐2‐(9,9‐dimethylfluoren‐2‐yl)acetylene) ( PFA2 ), poly[1‐decyl‐2‐(9,9‐dimethylfluoren‐2‐yl)acetylene] ( PFA3 ), poly[1‐phenyl‐2‐(9,9‐dimethylfluoren‐2‐yl)acetylene] ( PFA4 ), and poly[1‐(3,4‐difluorophenyl)‐2‐(9,9‐dimethylfluoren‐2‐yl)acetylene] ( PFA5 ) were synthesized by the polymerization of the corresponding fluorene‐substituted acetylenic monomers ( M1–M5), using WCl₆, MoCl_5, and TaCl₅ as catalysts and n‐Bu₄Sn as a cocatalyst. The synthesized polymers were thermally stable and readily soluble in common organic solvents. The degradation temperatures for a 5% weight loss of the polymers were ∼352–503 °C under nitrogen. PFA1–PFA5 show emission peaks from 402 to 590 nm. Besides, their electroluminescent properties were studied in heterostructure light‐emitting diodes (LEDs), using PFA2–PFA5 as an emitting layer. The PFA5 device revealed an orange‐red emission peak at 602 nm with a maximum luminescence of 923 cd/m² at 8 V. A device with the ITO/PEDOT/ a mixture of PFA2 (98 wt %) and PFA5 (2 wt %)/Ca/Al showed near white emission. Its maximum luminance and current efficiency are 450 cd/m² at 15 V and 1.3 cd/A, respectively. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 519–531, 2006     

Synthesis and properties of new poly(terfluorene) derivatives containing spirobifluorene and electron transport groups for stable blue electroluminescence

We have synthesized three new blue‐emitting poly(terfluorene) derivatives containing spirobifluorene and electron transport groups (quinoline or oxadiazole). The strategy is to connect the monomers via positions 2 and 2′ of spirobifluorene, which significantly restricts the interchain interaction and effectively adjusts the conjugation length. The incorporation of electron‐deficient units (quinoline or oxadiazole) into the positions 7 and 7′ of spirobifluorene tunes the emission band and reduces the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level. Blue electroluminescence with narrow emission was achieved in the devices of ITO/PEDOT/polymer/Ca/Al. The maximum luminances are in the range of 102–235 cd/m² and the maximum photometric efficiencies are in the range of 0.17–0.21 cd/A. All the polymers show good spectral stability, and are promising for use as stable blue‐emitting or electron‐transport/injection materials in polymeric light‐emitting diodes. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 4517–4529, 2005     

Synthesis of thermal‐stable and photo‐crosslinkable polyfluorenes for the applications of polymer light‐emitting diodes

Three polyfluorene derivatives which have oxetane‐containing phenyl group at C‐9 position were synthesized via the palladium‐catalyzed Suzuki‐coupling reaction. The synthesized polymers PFB, PFG, and PFR emit blue, green, and red light, respectively. A double‐layer device with the configuration of ITO/PEDOT/polymer/Ca/Al using PFB as the active layer showed a threshold voltage of 5 V, a maximum brightness of 2030 cd/m², and a maximum current efficiency of 0.35 cd/A. Using PFG as the active layer, the device exhibited a threshold voltage of 6 V, a maximum brightness of 6447 cd/m², and a maximum current efficiency of 1.27 cd/A. Using PFR as the active layer, the device showed a threshold voltage of 4 V, a maximum brightness of 2135 cd/m², and a maximum current efficiency of 0.16 cd/A. Better electroluminescent performance was also found based on different design of device structures. Due to photo‐crosslinking property of oxetane groups, the UV‐exposed thin films are insoluble in common organic solvents. A device comprised of blue, green, and red‐emissive pixels was successfully fabricated by spin‐coating and photo‐lithographic processes. In addition, a white light‐emitting device with CIE coordinate of (0.34, 0.33) was achieved by blending PFR into a host material PFB as the active layer. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 48: 516–524, 2010     

Pure blue electroluminescent poly(aryl ether)s with dopant–host systems

A series of novel arylene ether polymers (P5F‐BCzVFs) containing both pentafluorene (5F) and distyrylarylene derivative (BCzVF) units in the side chains for efficient pure blue light emission were prepared by a facile, metal‐free condensation polymerization. The emission spectra indicated that color tuning could be achieved through efficient Förster energy transfer from the deep‐blue 5F host to the pure‐blue BCzVF dopant. Single‐layer polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) based on P5F‐BCzVFs (ITO/(PEDOT:PSS)/polymer/Ca/Al) exhibited voltage‐independent and stable pure blue emission with a Commission International de L'Eclairage (CIE) coordinate of (0.15, 0.15), a maximum brightness of 3576 cd/m², and a maximum luminous efficiencies of 2.15 cd/A, respectively. As most polymers with dopant‐host systems, the luminous efficiencies of all P5F‐BCzVFs surpassed that of the host‐only polymer (P5F), due to the energy transfer and charge trapping from the host to the dopant. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011     

Polyfluorene containing diphenylquinoline pendants and their applications in organic light emitting diodes

We present a short, efficient synthetic route for the preparation of a novel polyfluorene copolymer (PF‐Q) containing two electron‐deficient, 2,4‐diphenylquinoline groups functionalized at the C‐9 positions of alternate fluorene units that form a three‐dimensional cardostructure. The presence of the rigid bulky pendent groups leads to a polyfluorene possessing a high glass‐transition temperature (207 °C) and very good thermal stability (5% weight loss observed at 460 °C). A photoluminescence study revealed that the Förster energy transfer from the excited quinoline groups to the polyfluorene backbone is very efficient; it also demonstrated that the commonly observed aggregate/excimer formation in polyfluorenes is suppressed very effectively in this polymer, even after it has been annealed at 150 °C for 20 h. A light emitting diode (LED) device prepared with PF‐Q as the emitting layer exhibits a stable blue emission with a maximum brightness of 1121 cd/m² at 12 V and a maximum external quantum efficiency of 0.80% at 250 cd/m². We also used PF‐Q, which contains diphenylquinoline units that behave as electron‐transporting side chains, as a host material and doped it with 2.4 wt % of a red‐emitting phosphorescent dye, Os(fppz), to realize a red electroluminescence with CIE color coordinates of (0.66, 0.34). The doped device exhibits a maximum external quantum efficiency of 6.63% (corresponding a luminance efficiency of 8.71 cd/A) at a current density of 47.8 mA/cm², together with a maximum brightness of 10457 cd/m². © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 43: 859–869, 2005