Inserting a hole-buffer layer is an effective way to enhance emission efficiency of electroluminescence devices. We have successfully synthesized a new hole-buffer material PSB composed of pyrene, Schiff base and trihydroxy tert-butyl groups by the Suzuki-coupling reaction. The HOMO and LUMO lev-els were -6.33 eV and -2.55 eV, respectively, as estimated from cyclic volt-ammograms. In addition, homogeneous films (rms roughness ~2 nm) were readily obtained by spin-coating process. Multilayer polymer light-emitting diodes, ITO/PEDOT:PSS/PSB/SY/LiF/Al, have been fabricated using PSB as hole-buffer layer (HBL). Inserting PSB as HBL significantly enhances the per-formance (maximum luminance: 26,439 cd/m2, maximum current efficiency: 7.03 cd/A), compared with the one without PSB (9802 cd/m2, 2.43 cd/A). It is also superior to the device with conventional BCP as hole-blocking layer (ITO/PEDOT:PSS/SY/BCP/LiF/Al: 15,496 cd/m2, 5.56 cd/A). Current results strongly indicate that the PSB is a potential hole-buffer material for electrolu-minescent devices.
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