A series of newly designed 3,4-diphenylmaleimide-based π-conjugated copolymers that exhibit
red fluorescence in both solution and solid state were synthesized and characterized. Bright and efficient red
fluorescence in the solid state was achieved by varying the structural combination of thiophene and/or fluorene
with 3,4-diphenylmaleimide fluorophore. The range of thiophene- and fluorene-derived 3,4-diphenylmaleimide
model compounds revealed that thiophene moieties were effective in extending the emission wavelength to the
red region, and fluorene moieties significantly enhanced fluorescence intensity. Polymer light-emitting diodes
(PLEDs) fabricated from 3,4-diphenylmaleimide−terthiophene copolymer (PTTML) exhibited saturated red
electroluminescence (EL) with emission
of 676 nm, although the diode was inefficient and dim. TPBI
(2,2‘,2‘ ‘-(1,3,5-phenylene)-tris(1-phenyl-1H-benzimidazole)) as the electron-transporting layer in PLEDs was found
to improve the performance of 3,4-diphenylmaleimide−bithiophene copolymer (PBTML). PBTML PLED yielded
reddish EL (emission
of 620 nm) with peak efficiencies of 0.61% (0.89 cd/A) and a maximum
electroluminance of 1290 cd/m2. A rare fluorene copolymer of a 3,4-diphenylmaleimide−thiophene−fluorene
triad (PFTML) emitted orange-red photoluminescence (PL) at a
of 598 nm in solution and
of 601 nm
in a solid thin film, with relatively high fluorescence quantum yields of 37 and 22%, respectively. Its PLEDs
yielded bright orange-red EL (emission
of 614 nm) with a high intensity of over 2000 cd/m2 and an
enhanced peak luminous efficiency of 1.25 cd/A or an external quantum efficiency of 0.74%.