Synthesis and properties of electrophosphorescent chelating polymers with iridium complexes in the conjugated backbone.

The synthesis of electrophosphorescent chelating polymers by Suzuki polycondensation of A-A- and B-B-type monomers is described, in which the fluorene-alt-carbazole (PFCz) segment is used as polymer backbone. By using alkyl-substituted ligands of iridium complex monomers, chelating copolymers with higher contents of iridium complex can be synthesized. Chemical and photophysical characterization confirm that the Ir complex is incorporated into the polymer backbone as one of the monomer repeat units by means of two 5-bromotolylpyridine ligands. Chelating polymers with Ir complexes in the conjugated polymer backbone show highly efficient energy transfer of excitons from the PFCz host segment to the Ir complex by an intramolecular trapping mechanism. The external quantum and luminous efficiencies of a device made with PFCzMppyIrhm4 copolymer reach 4.1 % ph/el (photons/electron) and 5.4 cd A(-1), respectively, at a current density of 32.2 mA cm(-2), an emission peak of 577 nm, and a luminance of 1730 cd cm(-2). Most important, the devices made from the chelating copolymers show no notable efficiency decay with increasing current density due to reduced concentration quenching and triplet-triplet (T-T) annihilation. This indicates that incorporation of the phosphorescent complex into the rigid conjugated polymer main chain is a new way to simultaneously realize high efficiency, long-term stability, and simple processing of phosphorescent polymer light-emitting diodes.