Photogeneration of holes and electrons in amorphous molecular semiconductors with neutral and ionic organic dyes

Photoconducting properties of amorphous molecular semiconductors based on polystyrene films doped with tetranitrofluorenone and merocyanine or an anionic polymethine dye, or with epoxypropylcarbazole and merocyanine or a cationic polymethine dye were studied. The former type of the films is characterized by electron conductivity, whereas the latter type by hole conductivity. The activation energy for photogeneration of mobile charge carriers increases on passing from a merocyanine dye to ionic dyes and decreases with a growth in quantum energy of excitation light for the films of the former type, but does not depend on the light quantum energy for the films of the latter type. It was concluded that the activation energy of photogeneration is determined by electrostatic interaction of a photogenerated charge carrier with the ionized photogeneration site or a counterion for neutral and ionic dyes, respectively. At low dissipation rates of the excess thermal energy of excited dye molecules via electron-nucleus interaction, photogenerated electrons have a possibility to travel over a long distance from the photogeneration site as compared with holes.