doi:10.1016/j.cplett.2004.01.066
Copyright © 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Direct exciton quenching in single molecules of MEH-PPV at 77 K
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O. Mirzova, F. Cichosb, C. von Borczyskowskib and I. G. Scheblykin
,
, a
a Department of Chemical Physics, Lund University, P.O. Box 124, 22100, Lund, Sweden
b Optical Spectroscopy and Molecular Physics, Technische Universität Chemnitz, 0910, Chemnitz, Germany
Received 14 October 2003;
Revised 16 January 2004.
Available online 11 February 2004.
Abstract
Fluorescence blinking behaviour was observed for single molecules of the conjugated polymer poly[2-methoxy,5-(2′-ethylhexyloxy)-p-phenylene-vinylene] (MEH-PPV) at 77 and 300 K. No strict qualitative dependence on temperature was observed, despite of the expected suppression of exciton migration at the low temperature. We assume MEH-PPV molecules to form dense nanoparticles with a characteristic size of about 10 nm at the largest. In such small nanoparticles exciton can be efficiently quenched by a photogenerated quencher due to Förster transfer just after a few hops over the polymer nanoparticle. Thus, long-distance exciton migration is not necessary to have strong fluorescence intensity fluctuations.
Fig. 1. (a) ‘On/Off blinking’ at 300 K; (b) irregular amplitude FIFs at 300 K; (c) ‘On/Off blinking’ at 77 K; (d) complicated FIFs at 77 K (1), a molecule showing no FIFs at 77 K (2).
Fig. 2. Relative fluorescence intensity fluctuation δF versus brightness of different molecules for 300 K (a) and 77 K (b).
Fig. 3. Two models of exciton quenching: (a) – model of long-distance exciton migration; (b) – model of direct quenching; A, A1, A2, Ai – emitting sites, Q – quencher. The rectangles schematically represent dimensions of the molecular systems, light-gray circles – quenching radii.
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