2016/12/09 by Kristin S. Grußmayer, Florian Steiner, Grussmayer, Kristin S. +7
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques #Chemical Physics (physics.chem-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Optics (physics.optics) #Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1612.02980
openalex publication_date 2016/12/09 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Blinking of the photoluminescence (PL) emitted from individual conjugated\npolymer chains is one of the central observations made by single-molecule\nspectroscopy (SMS). Important information, e.g., regarding excitation energy\ntransfer, can be extracted by evaluating dynamic quenching. However, the nature\nof trap states, which are responsible for PL quenching, often remains obscured.\nWe present a detailed investigation of the photon statistics of single\npoly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) chains obtained by SMS. The photon statistics\nprovide a measure of the number and brightness of independently emitting areas\non a single chain. These observables can be followed during blinking. A\ndecrease in PL intensity is shown to be correlated with either (i) a decrease\nin the average brightness of the emitting sites; or (ii) a decrease in the\nnumber of emitting regions. We attribute these phenomena to the formation of\n(i) shallow charge traps, which can weakly affect all emitting areas of a\nsingle chain at once; and (ii) deep traps, which have a strong effect on small\nregions within the single chains.\n