Spectroscopy and transport of the triplet exciton in a terthiophene end-capped poly(phenylene ethylene)

The charge and energy transport properties of conjugated polymers were investigated by making use of triplet states of terthiophene ([T.sub.3]) end-capped poly(phenylene ethylene) (PPE). The 1.8-nm delocalization length of triplet excited states in PPE is significantly larger than found in metal-containing PPE polymers, suggesting that the incorporation of the metal into the polymer backbone leads to the confinement of the triplet exciton.