Photodegradation of some luminescent polymers Original Research Article

The photodegradation of four para-phenylenevinylene and two para-phenylene–ethynylene polymers is investigated in neat films and blended polystyrene films. The monomeric photodegradation yield, φD,m, due to cw light excitation at some excitation wavelengths is determined by transmission measurement and numerical data analysis. The temporal developments of the optical density spectra indicate inhomogeneous absorption changes. The monomeric photodegradation yield is of the order of φD,m≈10−3 to 10−4 for the investigated para-phenylene–vinylene polymers and of the order of φD,m≈10−5 to 10−6 for the studied para-phenylene–ethynylene polymers.