Synthesis of a series of poly(arylene ether ketone)-containing triphenylamine materials as a component of buffer layer for OLEDs

Terunobu Kawasaki,  Hisahiro Sasabe,  Yong-Jin Pu,  Junji Kido
Yamagata univerisity


Abstract

In this work, we design and synthesize a series of poly(arylene ether ketone)-containing triphenylamine materials as a component of buffer layer for high-performance OLEDs. A monomer, triphenylamine-containing phenol derivatives were prepared via a demethylation reaction followed by a Buchwald-Hartwig reaction. Then, a polycondensation reaction between phenol derivatives and fluoroarylketone gave target poly(arylene ether keton)-containing triphenylamine materials, referred to as TPAPEK, PTPD-1, and PTPD-2, in high yields. By using a combination of these polymers and an acceptor, 4-isopropyl-4'-methyldiphenyliodonium tetrakis(pentafluorophenyl)borate (PPBI), we prepared a series of polymer buffer materials. We made a thin film of polymer buffer material from a ethyl benzoate solution. The film showed charge-transfer (CT) absorption between polymer and PPBI. The CT absorption intensity increases with increase of acceptor ratio. Then, we fabricated devices with structure [ITO (130 nm)/polymer:0.4wt% PPBI (20 nm)/NPD (10 nm)/ NPD:7 wt% rubrene (10 nm)/Alq3:7 wt% rubrene (10 nm)/Alq3(50 nm)/Liq(1 nm)/Al (80 nm)] and evaluated the OLED performances. A device with PTPD-1:PPBI showed superior performances and lifetime to the device without polymer buffer layer.