Inter‐Fullerene Electronic Coupling Controls the Efficiency of Photoinduced Charge Generation in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions

Larson, Bryon W.; Reid, Obadiah G.; Coffey, David C.; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M.; Popov, Alexey A.; Boltalina, Olga V.; Strauss, Steven H.; Kopidakis, Nikos; Rumbles, Garry

doi:10.1002/aenm.201601427

Title: Inter‐Fullerene Electronic Coupling Controls the Efficiency of Photoinduced Charge Generation in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions

Journal Article · Mon Sep 26 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201601427· OSTI ID:1464427

Larson, Bryon W. ^[1]; Reid, Obadiah G. ^[2]; Coffey, David C. ^[3]; Avdoshenko, Stanislav M. ^[4]; Popov, Alexey A. ^[4]; Boltalina, Olga V. ^[5]; Strauss, Steven H. ^[5]; Kopidakis, Nikos ^[2]; Rumbles, Garry ^[1]

Department of Chemistry Colorado State University 200 W Lake Street Fort Collins CO 80523 USA, Chemistry and Nanoscience Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden CO 80401 USA
Chemistry and Nanoscience Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden CO 80401 USA
Chemistry and Nanoscience Center National Renewable Energy Laboratory 15013 Denver West Parkway Golden CO 80401 USA, Department of Chemistry and Physics Warren Wilson College Swannanoa NC 28778 USA
Liebniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research Dresden D01069 Germany
Department of Chemistry Colorado State University 200 W Lake Street Fort Collins CO 80523 USA

Photoinduced charge generation (PCG) dynamics are notoriously difficult to correlate with specific molecular properties in device relevant polymer:fullerene organic photovoltaic blend films due to the highly complex nature of the solid state blend morphology. Here, this study uses six judiciously selected trifluoromethylfullerenes blended with the prototypical polymer poly(3‐hexylthiophene) and measure the PCG dynamics in 50 fs–500 ns time scales with time‐resolved microwave conductivity and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. The isomeric purity and thorough chemical characterization of the fullerenes used in this study allow for a detailed correlation between molecular properties, driving force, local intermolecular electronic coupling and, ultimately, the efficiency of PCG yield. The findings show that the molecular design of the fullerene not only determines inter‐fullerene electronic coupling, but also influences the decay dynamics of free holes in the donor phase even when the polymer microstructure remains unchanged.

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Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: DE‐AC36‐08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1464427

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Vol. 6 Journal Issue: 24; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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Cited by: 17 works

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