

FOLLOWUS
a.School of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan Key Laboratory of Advanced Nylon Materials and Application, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
b.Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Organic Optoelectronics, Faculty of Engineering, Huanghe Science & Technology University, Zhengzhou 450061, China
c.State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices and Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China
d.Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg SE-412 96, Sweden
mssjsu@scut.edu.cn (S.J.S.)
xusg@zzu.edu.cn (S.G.X.)
Received:08 July 2026,
Accepted:17 August 2026,
Online First:04 November 2026,
Published:2026-09
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Liu, M. X.; Jiang, K.; Cao, S. K.; Zhao, Z. H.; Zhao, M. L.; Wang, K. L.; Liu, Y. L.; Wang, E. G.; Su, S. J.; Xu, S. G. Main-chain/side-chain synergistic thermally activated delayed fluorescence conjugated polymers for white organic light-emitting diodes. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3853-9
Ming-Xiao Liu, Kai Jiang, Shao-Kui Cao, et al. Main-chain/Side-chain Synergistic Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Conjugated Polymers for White Organic Light-emitting Diodes[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-17.
Liu, M. X.; Jiang, K.; Cao, S. K.; Zhao, Z. H.; Zhao, M. L.; Wang, K. L.; Liu, Y. L.; Wang, E. G.; Su, S. J.; Xu, S. G. Main-chain/side-chain synergistic thermally activated delayed fluorescence conjugated polymers for white organic light-emitting diodes. Chinese J. Polym. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3853-9 DOI:
Ming-Xiao Liu, Kai Jiang, Shao-Kui Cao, et al. Main-chain/Side-chain Synergistic Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Conjugated Polymers for White Organic Light-emitting Diodes[J/OL]. Chinese Journal of Polymer Science, 2026, 441-17. DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3853-9.
Existing strategies for single-molecule white light-emitting polymers
either embedding light-emitting units into the conjugated main chain or attaching them to a non-conjugated main chain
cannot simultaneously achieve efficient charge transport and high-quality white light emission. In this study
a series of conjugated polymers
PCFDF-DT-DN
x
(
x
=0
0.25
0.5
1.5
2.5
5
or 10)
bearing thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) green-emitting units in the main chain and red-emitting units in the side chain were designed and synthesized. The conjugated backbone containing green units was synthesized
via
Suzuki polymerization
whereas the red TADF units were attached to the backbone
via
a post-click reaction. The main-chain/side-chain synergistic effect enables PCFDF-DT-DN
x
to exhibit good charge-transporting ability and facile emission color tunability. The non-doped device using PCFDF-DT-DN
10
as the emissive layer (EML) exhibited near-warm white light with CIE coordinates of (0.41
0.49)
a maximum external quantum efficiency (EQE
max
) of 1.58%
and a maximum luminance (
L
max
) of 3169.2 cd·m
–2
. The doped device based on PCFDF-DT-DN
10
10 wt% in CBP achieved cool white light with CIE coordinates of (0.31
0.42)
an EQE
max
of 3.96%
and a
L
max
of 4050.9 cd·m
–2
. This strategy validates the feasibility of the design and offers a new route toward high-efficiency white-light-emitting polymers with a facile synthesis and tunable emission colors.
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