Enhancing the active lifetime of luminescent semiconducting polymers via doping with metal nanoshells

Abstract

We report a dramatic, concentration-dependent decrease in the rate of photo-oxidation of semiconducting polymers due to the addition of small amounts of metal nanoshells to the polymer. In each case, the nanoshell resonances are tuned to the triplet exciton-ground state energy of the polymer. The nanoshell dopants slow the oxidation rate yet do not affect the photoluminescent properties of the polymers to which they have been added.