Cross-linkable aromatic amines as materials for insoluble hole-transporting layers in light-emitting devices

A series of cross-linkable aromatic amines has been synthesized by the multi-step synthetic rout. Full characterization of their structure by H-1 NMR-, IR- and mass spectrometry is presented. The synthesized materials were examined by various techniques including differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetry, UV and electron photoemission spectrometry. The electron photoemission spectra of the layers showed their ionisation potentials of 5.1-5.2 eV. One of the derivatives was used for the preparation of insoluble hole-transporting layers by photoinduced polymerization. The layers obtained were tested in multilayer light-emitting diodes. The device-containing hole-transporting layer of PEDOT/cross-linked network exhibited the best overall performance with a turn-on voltage of 5 V, a maximum photometric efficiency of 2.8 cd/A and a maximum brightness of ca. 5600 cd/m(2). (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.