Triplet-polaron quenching in conjugated polymers

We studied the triplet-polaron quenching in a platinum(II) porphyrin- (PtOEP-) doped polyspirobifluorene (PSF-TAD) copolymer. The copolymer contains a hole-transporting phenylenediamine unit (TAD) as a comonomer. Triplet-polaron quenching was probed by the change in PtOEP phosphorescence lifetime under an applied voltage in a unipolar device. The charge-induced reduction of the optically excited lifetime of PtOEP is one-third for the highest applied bias. The charge density can be obtained from current-voltage characteristics in the space-charge-limited (SCL) regime. The obtained hole mobility under SCL conditions is (7 2) x 10-(5) cml(2)/(V s). This result is in accord with recent mobility measurements of the time-of-flight mobility in our polymer. The triplet-polaron recombination constant was evaluated to be (4 1) x 10-(13) cm (3)/S, implying a triplet-polaron interaction radius of 2 x 10-(10) m. The results show that triplet-polaron annihilation cannot be neglected in device models for phosphorescent light-emitting diodes.