Low-temperature thermoluminescence in poly(methyl-phenylsilylene) Original Research Article

The low-temperature thermally stimulated luminescence (TSL) technique has been applied for probing the energetic disorder of localized states in poly(methyl-phenylsilylene) (PMPSi). The results are described in terms of the disorder model and the energetic relaxation of photogenerated charge carriers within a manifold of the states of Gaussian distribution, providing reasonable understanding of all observed trends in the TSL. Analysis of both the energetic position of the TSL peak maximum and the shape of its high-energy wing allowed to extract a parameter characterized the energetic disorder in PMPSi, the value of which coincided well with the width of the density-of-states determined from charge carrier transport measurements. The concept of the transport energy was also considered in the analysis. The problem of the photochemical stability of PMPSi as well as the appearance of new charge carrier trapping centers after the polymer photodegradation, is briefly outlined.