Photo-Crosslinking of Pendent Uracil Units Provides Supramolecular Hole Injection/Transport Conducting Polymers for Highly Efficient Light-Emitting Diodes

Abstract

A new process for modifying a polymeric material for use as a hole injection transport layer in organic light-emitting diodes has been studied, which is through 2 + 2 photodimerization of a DNA-mimetic -conjugated poly(triphenylamine-carbazole) presenting pendent uracil groups (PTC-U) under 1 h of UV irradiation. Multilayer florescence OLED (Organic light-emitting diodes) device with the PTC-U-1hr as a hole injection/transport layer (ITO (Indium tin oxide)/HITL (hole-injection/transport layer) (15 nm)/N,N'-di(1-naphthyl)-N,N'-diphenyl-(1,1'-biphenyl)-4,4'-diamine (NPB) (15 nm)/Tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline)aluminum (Alq(3)) (60 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm)) is fabricated, a remarkable improvement in performance (Q(max) (external quantum efficiency) = 2.65%, B-max (maximum brightness) = 56,704 cd/m(2), and LE (luminance efficiency)(max) = 8.9 cd/A) relative to the control PTC-U (Q(max) = 2.40%, B-max = 40,490 cd/m(2), and LEmax = 8.0 cd/A). Multilayer phosphorescence OLED device with the PTC-U-1hr as a hole injection/transport layer (ITO/HITL (15 nm)/Ir(ppy)(3):PVK (40 nm)/BCP (10nm)/Alq(3) (40 nm)/LiF (1 nm)/Al (100 nm)) is fabricated by successive spin-coating processes, a remarkable improvement in performance (Q(max) = 9.68%, B-max = 41,466 cd/m(2), and LEmax = 36.6 cd/A) relative to the control PTC-U (Q(max) = 8.35%, B-max = 34,978 cd/m(2), and LEmax = 30.8 cd/A) and the commercial product (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrenesulfonate) PEDOT:PSS (Q(max) = 4.29%, B-max = 15,678 cd/m(2), and LEmax = 16.2 cd/A) has been achieved.