A detailed study of the photophysics of organic semiconducting nanospheres

Conjugated polymers are an intriguing class of organic semiconductors which can be utilized as active medium in a wide range of electronic applications. Semiconducting polymer nanospheres fabricated from a conjugated polymer dispersed in aqueous phase have been realized successfully utilizing the miniemulsion process. This class of material combines the properties of conjugated polymers and nanostructured matter and can overcome certain limitations in the film formation of defined multi-layer structures and self assemblies and can, therefore, enable new device design concepts. We present first spectroscopic investigations to characterize nanospheres of methyl-substituted ladder-type poly(para-phenylene) in film and compare them to conventional bulk films of the same polymer. The dynamics of the various photo-excited states is probed via both steady state and transient differential transmission spectroscopy. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.