The carrier lifetime of n-type silicon wafers coated with the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS as a function of the excess carrier concentration Δp within the wafer is characterized using the quasi-steady-state photoconductance (QSSPC) method, and a drastic increase in the measured apparent lifetime τapp with decreasing Δp is observed. The observed increase with the depletion region modulation (DRM) effect is explained, as PEDOT:PSS-coated p-type silicon wafers do not show any increase in lifetime toward low injection levels. By modeling the measured τapp(Δp) curves on n-type silicon including interface recombination as well as the DRM effect, the interface recombination velocity as well as the band bending Ψs within the silicon induced by PEDOT:PSS are able to be extracted. The impact of adding sorbitol to the PEDOT:PSS dispersion on the τapp(Δp) curves is examined, and it is demonstrated that the admixture of sorbitol improves chemical interface passivation but leaves the band bending within the silicon bulk toward the PEDOT:PSS/c-Si interface unaffected. © 2021 The Authors. Physica Status Solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters published by Wiley-VCH GmbH