A novel family of hole-transport polyurethanes (PUs) has been developed. The PUs were prepared from the condensation polymerization of isophorone diisocyanate (IPDI) with (E,E)-1,4-bis(2-hydroxystyryl)benzene, an oligo p-phenylene-(E)-vinylene (OPV) unit, and various amounts of 2,5-bis(4hydroxyphenyl)-1,3,4-oxadiazole (OXD), as well as with 4-tert-butyl phenol as the terminal group. The PUs demonstrates superior properties that were concluded on the basis of the improved current injection in the corresponding hole-only device. The OLED device with the OPV-PU interfacial layer inserted in ITO/PEDOT:PSS(20 nm)/PU(30 nm)/R-NPB(10 nm)/Bebq 2 (20 nm)/Ca(10 nm)/Ag(100 nm) has a dramatic voltage reduction of 2.5 V under the current density of 100 mA/cm 2 . When compared to the control device, the current efficiency was improved 2.37 times. The maximum brightness increased to 14900 cd/m 2 in comparison to that of 5780 cd/m 2 for the control device. The performance of the OLED devices was fine-tuned by adjusting the combination of the OPV and OXD units to reach electron-hole balanced conditions. The maximum current efficiency increased to 4.12 cd/A at 5.5 V when the PU layer of OPV: OXD ) 67:33 was used.

Photothermal calorimetry and fluorescence spectroscopy were used to determine the relaxations of the photoexcited singlet state of two PPV and polyfluorene oligomers, (E,E)-1,4-bis[(2-benzyloxy)styryl]benzene (PVDOP) and ter(9,9'-spirobifluorene) (TSBF). The decay rates of different S1 relaxation channels, which include intersystem crossing (ISC), radiative, and nonradiative decay can be determined by the combination of photoacoustic calorimetry (PAC) and the time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) technique. The triplet state energy level is determined by the phosphorescence (Ph) spectra recorded at 77 K. The ISC yields are approximately 3% and 6% for PVDOP and TSBF, respectively. The T1 to S0 transition decay rate is acquired by PAC and photothermal beam deflection (PBD) measurements. The triplet state decay rate is 17 and 21 ms(-1) at room temperature. The Ph intensity decay at 77 K shows that the triplet state lifetime increases by 4 orders of magnitude, as compared to room temperature.