Photoinduced absorption of polyalkylthienylenevinylenes

We present a photoinduced absorption study of alkyl substituted poly(2,5-thienylenevinylene)s. Three photoinduced states are detected in both the solid state and in solution. The two low-energy bands are assigned to bipolarons, while a third band peaked near the band edge has a different origin. In solution photoexcitated states are very long-lived and we propose that photoexcitations recombine via a solvent-assisted photo-doping mechanism