Charge transport and exciton dissociation in organic solar cells consisting of dipolar donors mixed with C70

Griffith, Olga L.; Liu, Xiao; Amonoo, Jojo A.; Djurovich, Peter I.; Thompson, Mark E.; Green, Peter F.; Forrest, Stephen R.

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.92.085404

Charge transport and exciton dissociation in organic solar cells consisting of dipolar donors mixed with $C_{70}$

Journal Article · Thu Aug 06 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.085404· OSTI ID:1370069

Griffith, Olga L. ^[1]; Liu, Xiao ^[1]; Amonoo, Jojo A. ^[1]; Djurovich, Peter I. ^[2]; Thompson, Mark E. ^[2]; Green, Peter F. ^[1]; Forrest, Stephen R. ^[1]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)

We investigate dipolar donor materials mixed with a C₇₀ acceptor in an organic photovoltaic (OPV) cell. Dipolar donors that have donor-acceptor-acceptor (d-a-a') structure result in high conductivity pathways due to close coupling between neighboring molecules in the mixed films. We analyze the charge transfer properties of the dipolar donor:C₇₀ mixtures and corresponding neat donors using a combination of time-resolved electroluminescence from intermolecular polaron pair states and conductive tip atomic force microscopy, from which we infer that dimers of the d-a-a' donors tend to form a continuous network of nanocrystalline clusters within the blends. Additional insights are provided by quantum-mechanical calculations of hole transfer coupling and hopping rates between donor molecules using nearest-neighbor donor packing motifs taken from crystal structural data. The approximation using only nearest-neighbor interactions leads to good agreement between donor hole hopping rates and the conductive properties of the donor:C₇₀ blends. Furthermore, this represents a significant simplification from requiring details of the nano- and mesoscale morphologies of thin films to estimate their electronic characteristics. Using these dipolar donors, we obtain a maximum power conversion efficiency of 9.6 ± 0.5% under 1 sun, AM1.5G simulated illumination for an OPV comprised of an active layer containing a dipolar donor mixed with C₇₀.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion (CSTEC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0000957

OSTI ID:: 1370069

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1209175

Journal Information:: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics, Journal Name: Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter and Materials Physics Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 92; ISSN 1098-0121; ISSN PRBMDO

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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