Molecular engineering of dye-doped polymers for optoelectronics

The main approaches to molecular engineering of prospective dye-doped polymer matrices for optoelectronics have been considered. The advantages of such matrices over polymers and dyes separately were analyzed. It was shown that these advantages can be realized in the case where a doping of polymers by low-molecular-weight dyed impurities does not essentially distort spectral, luminescent and nonlinear optical properties of the individual components of polymer composition. The influence of polymer nature and chemical constitution of organic dyes on photophysical and photochemical properties of these matrices was analyzed. Processes of dye aggregation in polymers were characterized. Their influence on photophysical properties and the photochemical stability of dye-doped materials was discussed. The different approaches for struggle with it is offered. The influence of the method of introduction of a dye into a polymer on the output parameters of dyed materials was considered. The main paths of energy degradation of electronic excitation in such materials - internal conversion, electron transfer and photoisomerization were analyzed. The role of dyes in the process of generation, in recombination and in the carriage of charges in photoconductive polymers was discussed. The prospects for the application of dye-doped polymer materials as passive Q-switches of solid-state lasers, as active laser media with large Stokes shift, as luminescent solar converters and as electroluminescent emitters were demonstrated. Copyright (C) 2003 John Wiley Sons, Ltd.