Thermal degradation of photoluminescence Poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) solvent-tuned aggregate films

• Main Authors: Chew, Kang Wei, Abdul Rahim, Nor Azura, Teh, Pei Leng, Abdul Hisam, Nurfatin Syafiqah, Alias, Siti Salwa
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI 2022
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.utm.my/103790/1/SitiSalwaAlias2022_ThermalDegradationofPhotoluminescencePoly99Dioctylfluorene.pdf; http://eprints.utm.my/103790/; http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14081615

The progression of the green emission spectrum during the decomposition of polyfluorenes (PFs) has impeded the development and commercialization of the materials. Herein, we constructed a solvent-tuned aggregated PFO film with the aim of retarding the material’s thermal degradation behavior which causes a significant decline in optical properties as a result of phase transformation. The tuning of the aggregate amount and distribution was executed by applying a poor alcohol-based solvent in chloroform. It emerges that at a lower boiling point methanol evaporates quickly, limiting the aggregate propagation in the film which gives rise to a more transparent film. Furthermore, because of the modulated β-phase conformation, the absorption spectra of PFO films were red-shifted and broadened. The increase in methanol percentage also led to a rise in β-phase percentage. As for the thermal degradation reactions, both pristine and aggregated PFO films exhibited apparent changes in the UV-Vis spectra and PL spectra. In addition, a 97:3 (chloroform:methanol) aggregated PFO film showed a more defined emission spectrum, which demonstrates that the existence of β-phase is able to suppress the unwanted green emission.