Using the Gilch polymerization method, we synthesized a new series of green electroluminescent
polymer, poly[1,4-{2-(3,3‘-diheptyl-3,4-propylenedioxythiophen-2-yl)}phenylenevinylene], poly(PDOT−PV),
which is a series of fully conjugated poly(p-phenylenevinylene) derivatives with a propylenedioxythiophene (PDOT)
moiety as a side-chain. We also synthesized copolymers, poly(PDOT−PV-co-m-SiPhPV), of poly(PDOT−PV)
with poly[2-(3-dimethyldodecylsilyphenyl)-1,4-phenylenevinylene], poly(m-SiPhPV), segments. The resulting
polymers were highly soluble in common organic solvents and could be easily spin-coated onto an indium−tin
oxide coated glass substrate to obtain high quality optical thin films. The weight-average molecular weight (M
w)
and polydispersity of poly(PDOT−PV) were 22.0 × 104 and 5.3, respectively, and those of poly(PDOT−PV-co-m-SiPhPV) were in the ranges (23.2−36.7) × 104 and 5.0−5.8, respectively. The stability of the resulting
polymers is adequate for the fabrication of devices, and they provide longevity to devices because they have high
glass transition temperatures (T
g). We fabricated polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs) in ITO/PEDOT/light-emitting polymer/cathode configurations using either double-layer LiF/Al or triple-layer Alq3/LiF/Al cathode
structures. For PLEDs containing poly(PDOT−PV) and poly(PDOT−PV-co-m-SiPhPV), the performance was
highest using triple-layer cathodes. The turn-on voltages of PDOT-based light-emitting polymers were in the
range of 6.0−9.0 V, and the maximum brightness and luminance efficiency were 5127 cd/m2 at 18 V and 3.75
cd/A at 9 V.