Singlet, Triplet, Electron and Hole Transport Along Single Polymer Chains

The diffusion of singlet and triplet excitons along single polyfluorene chains in solution has been studied by monitoring their transport to end traps. Time-resolved transient absorption and steady state fluorescence were used to determine fractions of excitons that reach the end caps. In order to accurately determine the singlet diffusion coefficient, the fraction of polymer ends that have end traps was determined through a combination of NMR and triplet quenching experiments. The distributions of polymer lengths were also taken into account and the resulting analysis points to a surprisingly long singlet diffusion length of 34 nm. Experiments on triplet transport also suggest that the entire 100nm+ chain is accessible to the triplet during its lifetime suggesting a lack of hindrance by defects or traps on this timescale. Time Resolved Microwave Conductivity measurements were also performed on a series of different length oligo- and polyfluorenes in solution allowing a global fit to be performed to extract an accurate intrachain mobility of 1.1 cm²/Vs.