Enhancement of electroluminescence properties of red diketopyrrolopyrrole-doped copolymers by oxadiazole and carbazole units as pendants

Two novel diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based copolymers P1-2 were prepared by doping red emitting DPP monomer (1 mol%) into benzothiadiazole, alkoxybenzene and 9,9-dialkylfluorene-based copolymers through base-free Suzuki polymerization. P1 contained the pendants of electron-transport oxadiazole and hole-transport carbazole, but P2 did not contain them. P1 had higher glass transition temperature than P2. The electroluminescence (EL) devices of P1 and P2 (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer/CsF/Al) exhibited red emission with external quantum efficiency of 0.63% and 0.18%, and with brightness of 2681 and 885 cd/m2, respectively. The results show that the EL properties of P1 are much better than that of P2 due to the introduction of oxadiazole and carbazole as the pendants. The pendants could restrain aggregation which might induce fluorescence quenching and are of benefit to keep high charge mobility. The efficient energy transfer existed among the pendants, polymer backbone and DPP unit. These factors should be responsible for the higher EL performance of P1.

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