Novel white-light-emitting polyfluorenes with benzothiadiazole and Ir complex on the backbone

Novel white-emitting polyfluorenes were synthesized by mixing fluorescence and phosphorescence emission. Benzothiadiazole(BT) and iridium(III)bis(2-(1-naphthalene)pyridine-C2′,N)-2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-3,5-heptanedione[(1-npy)2Ir(tmd)] units were incorporated into polyfluorene backbone as green and red chromophores by Suzuki polycondensation. The device from PFG03–IrR07 shows a maximum luminous efficiency (LE) of 5.3 cd/A, a maximum luminance of 9900 cd/m2 at a current density of 453 mA/cm2 and a CIE coordinate of (0.32, 0.34) with the configuration: ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PVK/emissive layer/CsF/Al. Besides, the EL efficiencies decline slightly with increasing the current density. All emissions located very close to the equi-energy white point (0.33, 0.33) when applied voltage change from 9 to 14 V. Furthermore, the white emission of devices based on these materials shows very good color quality, with high color rendering index range between 84 and 89. Our results indicate that, by incorporation of singlet and triplet species into polymer backbone, the obtained white-emitting materials and devices are promising candidates for display and solid-state-lighting purpose.