Controlling photo-oxidation processes of a polyfluorene derivative : the effect of additives and mechanism

The control of the photo degradation of a fluorene–vinylene–phenylene based-polymer, poly(9,9-di-hexylfluorenediylvinylene- alt -1,4-phenylenevinylene) (LaPPS16) was achieved by addition of a radical scavenger (RS) (enhancing photo resistance) or a radical initiator (RI) (reducing photo resistance). Photoluminescence, UV–Vis absorption, 1 H NMR spectroscopies and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) revealed that the incorporating small amounts of RS or RI is an efficient way to control the rates of the photo-oxidation reactions, and thus to obtain the conjugated polymer with foreseeable degradation rates for applications in blue-light sensitive detectors for neonatal phototherapy.