Role of the second electron trap in triarylamine-based polymer composites: insights derived from the photorefractive responses and transient dynamics of photocurrents
摘要
In a previous study, we reported that the second electron trap, tris(8-hydroxyquinolinate)aluminum (Alq3), significantly suppressed the examined photocurrent with the application of a higher electric field, resulting in a faster diffraction time on the order of hundreds of microseconds for photorefractive (PR) polymers of poly[bis(4-phenyl)(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)-amine] (PTAA) with a sensitizer, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), and Alq3. The present research is aimed at characterizing Alq3, which plays an important role in controlling photocurrents and achieving in superior PR performance. Here, the PR properties, photoconductivity, and transient dynamics of a photocurrent are investigated. The transient dynamics of the photocurrent clearly reveal that one site for photocarrier generation is PCBM, from which the PCBM anion is preferentially produced between 10−4 and 10−2 s, and the other site is the charge transfer complex (CT) between PTAA and Alq3, from which the CT anion is preferentially produced between 10−3 and 10−1 s and beyond. The time-related growth exhibited by the diffraction efficiency is well characterized by these time-domain aspects; PCBM has a significant role in increasing the diffraction time to the order of hundreds of microseconds, and the CT complex contributes to achieving sustained diffraction efficiency in the temporal region longer than milliseconds to seconds.