Handai Nanophotonics, Volume 1 H. Masuhara and S. Kawata (Editors)© 2004 Elsevier BV All rights reserved.

摘要: The advance in optical probing of single molecules and the introduction of nanostructured materials have launched a new exciting era in the field of photonics. The main focus in this area includes the detailed understanding of nanostructured materials and the device fabrication based on those studies. Organic semiconducting materials, in particular, have emerged as a key component in photonic devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic cells [1-5]. While the organic device function has been improved drastically for the past two decades, many critical fundamental issues still remain unanswered due to the heterogeneity and complex nature of the materials and the interfaces.Using the ability of single molecule spectroscopy (SMS) to unravel complex spectra and dynamics, major progress has been made on developing an understanding of how the electronic structure of conjugated polymers is controlled by conformational structure [6-13]. More outstanding questions in this field pertain to optoelectronic properties and processes of the materials incorporated in relevant functioning devices. We have recently developed a new technique, Fluorescence-Voltage Single Molecule Spectroscopy {FV SMS) to study the complex photochemical, photophysical, and charge transfer processes of conjugated polymer molecules in an OLED type device [14, 15]. Typical FV SMS experiments involve acquiring SMS data while simultaneously subjecting the single molecule (or nanoparticle) to repetitive oxidation/reduction. It is ideally suited for investigating exciton/polaron interactions, a topic that is interesting from a fundamental perspective, as …