Hydrogen-bonded network: An effective approach to improve the thermal stability of organic/polymer electro-optic materials

Binary polymer blends that can form hydrogen-bond networks were prepared and used to fabricate the guest-host organic electro-optic (EO) materials. The hydrogen-bonds network in the solid films of novel guest-host organic EO materials was verified by FT-IR spectra. After corona poling, two kinds of EO films revealed the maximum EO coefficient value (r ₃₃) of 19.5 and 30 pm/V at the wavelength of 1310 nm. The EO activity and the order parameter of the chromophores in the poled films both indicated that the hydrogen-bond network has little impact on the motion of the chromophores while poling. These new EO films exhibited better temporal stability after 250 h at 55 and 85 °C compared with the conventional guest-host systems that have the similar or higher T _gs. Moreover, the results also indicated that polymer blends as the host of EO materials can change the dielectric strength of the materials, which directly influence the poling efficiency.