| Abstract: | The quantum efficiencies of photoluminescence (PL) and electro‐luminescence (EL) of poly2‐methoxy‐5‐(2′‐ethyl‐hexyloxy)‐1,4‐phenylenevinylene] (MEH‐PPV) were significantly increased by heat treatments under vacuum with further removing the undissolved portion. The UV–vis absorption was found to decrease with heating time, while PL intensity increased. The maximum PL quantum yield was 6.5 times that of the untreated MEH‐PPV, which was attributed to the reduction of chain aggregations and the interruption of conjugation length. The maximum EL quantum yield of their prepared ITO/PANI/MEH‐PPV/Ca/AL light emitting diodes (PLED) was 46 (at 3 V) times that of the untreated sample. A typical turn‐on voltage of 2.5 V for MEH‐PPV PLED was able to decrease to 1 V after heat treatments, which was believed to result from the decrease of cis linkages in the polymer chains as revealed by the 1H NMR spectroscopy. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43: 1705–1711, 2005 |
