Synthesis of copolyfluorenes with high fluorenone contents and its application in electroluminescent device by simple blending

Abstract

Poly(fluorene-co-fluorenone)s containing high contents of fluorenone chromophore were synthesized by the Suzuki coupling reaction to study their electroluminescent (EL) properties. The copolymers are thermally stable below 430°C (Td) in nitrogen atmosphere. In film state, their absorption and photoluminescence spectra (peaked at 373–382 nm and 562–564 nm, respectively) are mainly originated from fluorenone units, because of its efficient energy transfer. Both LUMO and HOMO energy levels, estimated from their cyclic voltammograms, are lowered slightly (−3.17−3.23 eV, −5.84−5.89 eV) with increasing contents of electron-withdrawing fluorenone units. Double-layer EL devices, using the copolyfluorenes or their blends with poly(9,9-dihexylfluorene) (PF) as emitting layer, show exclusive emission originated from fluorenone chromophore (565 nm) when its content is high. Blending 0.02–5 wt % of PF-33 (fluorenone fraction: 0.37) with PF greatly enhances device performance (610 cd m−2 4400 cd m−2 and 0.45 cd A−1 1.52 cd A−1). Our results demonstrate that the copolyfluorenes are promising emitting materials for EL devices by simple blending. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011