Suppressing Solid-State Quenching in Red-Emitting Conjugated Polymers

Conjugated polymers with intense solid-state emission are vital for the development of next-generation optoelectronic devices. In particular, it remains extremely challenging to construct pi-conjugated systems that emit in the red region of the electromagnetic spectrum and also retain their optical properties and intense photoluminescence in the solid state. In this article we report the synthesis and characterization of three novel diketopyrrolopyrrole-based conjugated polymers, with systematic variation of the covalent encapsulation density. Through control of the distance and density of encapsulation, our red-emitting polymers demonstrate that aggregation-caused quenching can be mostly eliminated, culminating in the most efficient solid-state photoluminescence from red conjugated polymers to date.