Elsevier

Synthetic Metals

Volume 53, Issue 2, January 1993, Pages 161-174
Synthetic Metals

Spectroscopic studies of a soluble and stable polyacetylene blend

https://doi.org/10.1016/0379-6779(93)90888-4Get rights and content

Abstract

Polyacetylene blends with poly(vinyl butyral) (PVB) exhibit strongly enhanced stability under ambient conditions. Isomerization and doping processes are carried out in air and studied in situ by optical spectroscopy of the blends in liquid suspensions and in cast films. Third-order nonlinear optical susceptibility, χ(3)(3ω), spectra are studied via third-harmonic generation (THG) for cis-rich and trans-(CH)χ in the PVB blends. The THG spectra are typical of polyacetylene with the previously observed cis-trans differences clearly evident and with the enhanced THG in trans-(CH)χ due to the simultaneous two- and three-photon resonance at 0.6 eV (into the soliton continuum and the electron-hole continuum, respectively). The THG spectra are unaffected by air exposure over a period of a month. Photoinduced absorption spectra (modulated excitation spectroscopy) indicate a strong enhancement of the high energy peak (at 1.5 eV) with no indication of the 0.6 eV band. Exposing the material to air for several weeks causes the low energy peak to grow in intensity implying a correlation of the charged soliton lifetime with defects (trapping sites) in the material. The enhanced stability appears to be intrinsic, rather than simply due to encapsulation by the PVB.

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