Narrow-bandwidth spontaneous luminescence from oriented semiconducting polymer nanostructures

High-resolution fluorescence imaging of isolated nanoparticles of a common semiconducting polymer (poly[2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene, MEH-PPV), produced by ink-jet printing techniques, has revealed highly uniform transition moment orientation perpendicular to the glass substrate. In contrast with the broad emission spectra associated with bulk or single molecules of these species in thin films, we observe narrow photoluminescence emission spectra (10-15 nm fwhm) from individual oriented polymer nanostructures with no evidence of spectral diffusion on time scales of several hundred seconds. The distribution of center frequencies (from several hundred individual nanoparticle measurements) shows clearly defined peaks that can be correlated with excitonic traps of integer multiples of monomer conjugation lengths (8, 9, 10, and 11). The observation of discrete emission characteristics in this important class of materials suggests exciting possibilities in photonics and molecular optoelectronics.