Fluorene- and Benzimidazole-Based Blue Light-Emitting Copolymers: Synthesis, Photophysical Properties, and PLED Applications

Blue light-emitting materials are receiving considerable academic and industrial interest due to their potential applications in optoelectronic devices. In this study, blue light-emitting copolymers based on 9,9'-dioctylfluorene and 2,2'-(1,4-phenylene)-bis(benzimidazole) moieties were synthesized through palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction. While the copolymer consisting of unsubstituted benzimidazoles (PFBI0) is insoluble in common organic solvents, its counterpart with N-octyl substituted benzimidazoles (PFBI8) enjoys good solubility in toluene, tetrahydrofuran, dichloromethane (DCM), and chloroform. The PFBI8 copolymer shows good thermal stability, whose glass transition temperature and onset decomposition temperature are 103 and 428 degrees C, respectively. Its solutions emit blue light efficiently, with the quantum yield up to 99% in chloroform. The electroluminescence (EL) device of PFBI8 with the configuration of indium-tin oxide/poly(ethylenedioxythiophene):poly( styrene sulfonic acid)/PFBI8/1,3,5-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole-2-yl) benzene/LiF/Al emits blue light with the maximum at 448 nm. Such unoptimized polymer light-emitting diode (PLED) exhibits a maximum luminance of 1534 cd/m(2) with the current efficiency and power efficiency of 0.67 cd/A and 0.20 lm/W, respectively. The efficient blue emission and good EL performance make PFBI8 promising for optoelectronic applications. (C) 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 50: 2172-2181, 2012