A novel narrow band gap red light-emitting cyanovinylene polymer derived from 3,4-dialkoxy thiophene for optoelectronic applications

Abstract

A novel donor-acceptor type narrow band gap cyanovinylene poly{3,30-(3,4-ditetradecyloxythiene-2,5-diyl) bis[2-(thiophen-2-yl)prop-2- enenitrile]} has been designed and synthesized through multistep reactions. All the newly synthesized compounds were characterized by using FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy followed by elemental analyses. The polymer P is found to be thermally stable up to 300 °C under nitrogen atmosphere. The optical and charge-transporting properties of the polymer were investigated by UV-visible, fluorescence emission spectroscopic and cyclic voltammetric studies. The monomer (M) emits intense green-light in solution state and the polymer (P) exhibited intense red-fluorescence both in solution and solid state. The fluorescence quantum yield of the polymer is determined to be 43%. Cyclic voltammetric studies reveal that the polymer possesses good charge carrying property. The electrochemical band-gap is estimated to be 1.8 eV. The studies reveal that the new cyanovinylene polymer P is a promising material for the development of efficient optoelectronic devices. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.