Development of high performance PPVs: implications of the polymer-microstructure

Poly(p-phenylene vinylene)s (PPVs) are promising materials for optoelectron ic applications, especially for displays based on polymer light emitting di odes (PLEDs). We report here our findings concerning defect structures in t his class of materials and the implications of the discovered irregularitie s on important material properties, that is, the operational life in a PLED . Recent improvements, which were deduced from this findings, are presented : optimized PPVs with a lower amount of defects result in a strong increase of operational lifetime. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserve d.