Ultrafast charge photogeneration dynamics in ground-state charge-transfer complexes based on conjugated polymers

The charge photogeneration and early recombination in MEH-PPV-based charge-transfer complexes (CTCs) and in MEH-PPV/PCBM blend as a reference are studied by ultrafast visible-pump-IR-probe spectroscopy. After excitation of the CTC band, an immediate (<100 fs) electron transfer is observed from the polymer chain to the acceptor with the same yield as in the MEH-PPV/PCBM blend. The forward charge transfer in the CTCs is followed by an efficient (approximately 95%) and fast (<30 ps) geminate recombination. For comparison, the recombination efficiency obtained in the MEH-PPV/PCBM blend does not exceed a mere 50%. Polarization-sensitive experiments demonstrate high (approximately 0.3) values of transient anisotropy for the CTCs polaron band. In contrast, in the MEH-PPV/PCBM blend the dipole moment orientation of the charge-induced transition is less correlated with the polarization of the excitation photon. According to these data, photogeneration and recombination of charges in the CTCs take place locally (i.e., within a single pair of a polymer conjugation segment and an acceptor) while in the MEH-PPV/PCBM blend exciton migration precedes the separation of charges. Results of the ultrafast experiments are supported by photocurrent measurements on the corresponding MEH-PPV/acceptor photodiodes.