Optical properties of ultraviolet-light soaked states in polyfluorene thin films

Optical properties of ultraviolet (UV)-light soaked states in poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (F8) have been studied. F8 thin films, synthesized by Suzuki and Yamamoto coupling reactions, were irradiated by a He–Cd laser (λ = 325 nm) and the UV-light-soaked states were characterized by photoluminescence (PL), optical absorption, Fourier transform infrared absorption and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis measurements. A photo-induced decrease in PL intensity and PL color change were found in UV-light-soaked F8 thin films. It is shown that the decrease in PL intensity is due to the increase in oxygen-related PL quenching centers and that the PL color change is due to the appearance of 2.2-eV emission bands whose origin is identified to be an exciplex formed between an oxygen-related defect and its nearest F8 polymer chain. The oxygen-related defect, which forms the exciplex, can result from a keto defect (fluorenone) because of the similarity in PL spectra between UV-light-soaked F8 and fluorene–fluorenone copolymers.