FUNDAMENTAL AND PRACTICAL ISSUES FOR PHENYLENEVINYLENE-BASED POLYMER LIGHT-EMITTING-DIODES

An overview of photophysical measurements in phenylenevinylene polymer s is presented and evaluated in light of the implications for organic electroluminescent materials design. Intrinsic limitations placed on d evice efficiency are discussed and we show that the polymer synthesis is critical to obtaining morphologies which exhibit reduced aggregatio n quenching of luminescence. We also document that oxidation of the po lymer caused during the synthesis, or by subsequent excited state reac tions, leads to luminescence quenching defects which can dramatically reduce fluorescence efficiency. We conclude with a brief review of oth er considerations in engineering efficient, long-lived polymer light-e mitting diodes (LED's).