Photoluminescence from pendant dye molecules mediated by exciton transport on helical polysilane chains

Abstract

We have synthesized helical polysilanes on which the pendant groups are partly substituted by dye molecules. The introduction of a few percent of dye molecules into the substituents enhances the luminescent efficiency of the visible region, by behaving as luminescence centers. We have demonstrated that the excitation energy is transferred efficiently by free excitons on the Si backbones to reach the luminescence centers, where energy transfer occurs from the exciton to the dye molecule, and as a result sensitized luminescence occurs. The exciton transfer is found to occur over 50–100 monomer units on the polysilane backbone. This approach will open the way to fabricating a wavelength-tunable luminous device by utilizing the exciton transport on Si chains.