A polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS)-based blue light electroluminescent nanoparticle, POSS-FL3, which contains a terfluorene chromophore on each of its eight arms, was easily prepared via the
hydrosilation reaction between octakis(dimethylsiloxy)silsesquioxane and an allyl-functionalized terfluorene
chromophore that emits blue light as a result of photo- or electroexcitation. POSS-FL3 exhibits good
solubility in common organic solvents, such as chloroform, THF, toluene, p-xylene, and chlorobenzene,
and good film-forming properties on a quartz plate or an indium tin oxide (ITO) plate; i.e., it has good
solution processing properties. The good spectral overlap of the maximum absorption wavelength (391
nm in THF solution) of poly(dihexylfluorene) with the maximum emission wavelengths (394 nm in THF
solution) of POSS-FL3 suggests that POSS-FL3 can be used as a dopant of blue light-emissive conjugated
polymers such as polyfluorenes to increase their quantum efficiencies through energy transfer. A single-layered electroluminescence (EL) device with the configuration of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/POSS-FL3/Ca (500
nm)/Al (800 nm) was fabricated, with maximum EL peaks at 400, 422, and 464 nm. The external quantum
efficiency (EQE) of the POSS-FL3 device (0.0164%) was found to be higher than that of poly(dihexylfluorene) devices in EL devices (0.0095%). Surprisingly, the external quantum efficiencies in
EL devices of POSS-FL3 doped poly(dihexylfluorene) blends were found to be about 4−8 times greater
than that of poly(dihexylfluorene).
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