Optical control over photoconductivity in polyferrocenylsilane films

The origin of the photoconductivity of polyferrocenylsilanes achieved through photooxidation performed by ultraviolet irradiation in the presence of chloroform was studied. The existence of long-lived photoexcited states with a lifetime in the millisecond range was revealed by photomodulation spectroscopy. It was shown that the trapped excitons have increased lifetime leading to increased probability for their dissociation. It was concluded that photooxidation of PFMPS results in a significant increase of the dark conductivity and photoconductivity, the appearance of new absorption bands, and the photogeneration of long-lived states.