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      Differentiation between shallow and deep charge trap states on single poly(3-hexylthiophene) chains through fluorescence photon statistics

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          Abstract

          Blinking of the photoluminescence (PL) emitted from individual conjugated polymer chains is one of the central observations made by single-molecule spectroscopy (SMS). Important information, e.g., regarding excitation energy transfer, can be extracted by evaluating dynamic quenching. However, the nature of trap states, which are responsible for PL quenching, often remains obscured. We present a detailed investigation of the photon statistics of single poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) chains obtained by SMS. The photon statistics provide a measure of the number and brightness of independently emitting areas on a single chain. These observables can be followed during blinking. A decrease in PL intensity is shown to be correlated with either (i) a decrease in the average brightness of the emitting sites; or (ii) a decrease in the number of emitting regions. We attribute these phenomena to the formation of (i) shallow charge traps, which can weakly affect all emitting areas of a single chain at once; and (ii) deep traps, which have a strong effect on small regions within the single chains.

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          Author and article information

          Journal
          2016-12-09
          Article
          1612.02980
          1c250b02-6b6e-473f-b31d-823c7840c305

          http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/

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          Custom metadata
          physics.chem-ph physics.optics

          Optical materials & Optics,Physical chemistry
          Optical materials & Optics, Physical chemistry

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