Synthesis and characterization of novel graft copolymers of Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) and Poly(3-methylthiophene) for optoelectronic applications

In this paper, we report the synthesis and characterization of a new material based on Poly(N-vinylcarbazole) (PVK) and Poly(3-methylthiophene) (PMeT), which has been chemically prepared by cross-linking of PVK in the presence of 3-methylthiophene monomers in chloroform with anhydrous FeCl3. Thus, two samples were prepared, PVK-3MeT1 and PVK-3MeT2, obtained firstly in the fully doped state and successfully dedoped by chemical treatment. They were characterized by various spectroscopic methods as well as thermal analysis and conductivity measurements. Then, the formation of PMeT by oxidative coupling and its grafting into the skeleton of PVK is shown. Furthermore, the optical analysis shows that the new materials exhibit a blue-shift compared to that of the PMeT homo-polymer. The obtained graft copolymer presents interesting optical and thermal properties compared to that of the homo-polymers. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.