Bipolar Blue Light-emitting Polyfluorenes Containing Dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide/Carbazole Units

Abstract

Bipolar blue light-emitting polyfluorenes(PFSO-Cz) containing electron-deficient dibenzothiophene-S,S-dioxide(SO) and electron-rich carbazole(Cz) unit were synthesized. All the polymers show a high thermal stability with the decomposition temperatures over 400 °C and higher photoluminescence quantum yields. The highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels(EHOMO’s) slightly enhance and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels(ELUMO’s) gently depress with the increase of Cz content in the polymers. PL spectra of the polymers display remarkable red shift and broadening with the increase of solvent polarities, indicating significant intramolecular charge transfer(ICT) effect in the polymers. Electroluminescence(EL) spectra of the polymers exhibit a broadening tendency with increasing the content of Cz unit in the polymers. The superior device performances were obtained with the maximum luminous efficiency(LEmax) of 5.2 cd/A, the maximum external quantum efficiency(EQEmax) of 4.8% and the Internationale de l’Eclairage(CIE)(x,y) coordinates of (0.16, 0.17) for PFSO15-Cz10 based on the single-layer device of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/EL/CsF/Al. The results indicate that the efficient bipolar blue light-emitting polyfluorenes are also constructed by Suzuki copolymerization using the monomers in common use.