Synthesis of novel triphenylamine-based conjugated polyelectrolytes and their application as hole-transport layers in polymeric light-emitting diodes

Alternating triphenylamine-based copolymers poly[N-(4-sulfonatobutyloxyphenyl)-4,4′-diphenylamine-alt-1,4-phenylene] sodium salt (PTPOBS) and poly[N-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4,4′-diphenylamine-alt-N-(p-trifluoromethyl)phenyl-4,4′-diphenylamine] sodium salt (PTFTS) were synthesized via palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction. These polymers are soluble only in polar solvents, such as dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and a mixed solvent of methanol and N,N-dimethyl formamide (DMF), rather than in non-polar solvents such as toluene and xylene. The electrochemical and photophysical properties of the resulted copolymers were investigated. The HOMO levels of the polymers (−5.08 eV for PTPOBS and −5.24 eV for PTFTS) were close to the work function of PEDOT. The relatively high-lying LUMO levels (−2.21 eV for PTPOBS and −2.24 eV for PTFTS) revealed that they had good electron-blocking capabilities. Devices with a PTPOBS or PTFTS layer inserted between ITO or PEDOT and of red and green-emitting polymers showed lower turn-on voltages and enhanced efficiency compared with the reference devices composed of bare ITO or ITO/PEDOT as anode. These polymers can be used as an independent hole-transport/electron-blocking layer or in combination with a PEDOT layer for fabrication of multilayer devices without intermixing with the subsequent EL layer by solution processing in full-color display applications.