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.