Solvent effect of excited state intramolecular proton transfer in 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl) benzothiazole upon luminescent properties

This work explored excited-state intramolecular proton transfer (ESIPT) in 2-(2′-hydroxyphenyl) benzothiazole (HBT) for the application of light-emitting devices. A single-layer dye-disperse polymer light-emitting device was designed with an ESIPT dye as the doping emitter in polymer matrix containing polyvinycarbazole (PVK). The experiment reveals that emission color can be altered according to the solvent system during spin-coated film process. This study also examined the effects of excited-state intramolecular proton transfer on the electroluminescent (EL) properties.