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Title: Charge Transfer and Aggregation Effects on the Performance of Planar vs Twisted Nonfullerene Acceptor Isomers for Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

In this paper, newly synthesized perylene diimide dimers were investigated as nonfullerene electron acceptors for organic solar cells. In particular, two analogous positional isomers exhibiting twisted vs planar geometries were prepared to make a direct comparison of their optical and electronic properties. These properties were investigated to provide information regarding the impact of the nonfullerene acceptor geometry on the ultimate photovoltaic performance. The two isomers exhibited strikingly different optical and photophysical properties in solution as well as in film. The ultrafast spectroscopic investigation in solution revealed the occurrence of charge transfer upon photoexcitation, which takes place more efficiently in the planar isomer. This is also supported by theoretical simulations. Finally, the planar conformation exhibits higher aggregation in the neat film as well as in the blend. However, our results suggest that the dominance of intramolecular charge transfer in the planar isomer is the crucial factor in determining the improved power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells.

Authors:
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2];  [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemistry; Univ. of Perugia (Italy). Dept. of Chemistry, Biology, and Biotechnology
  2. Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Dept. of Chemistry. The James Franck Inst.
  3. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States). Materials Science Division; Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States). Inst. for Molecular Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Center for Light Energy Activated Redox Processes (LEAP); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Univ. of Chicago, IL (United States); Univ. of Perugia (Italy)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST) (United States); Ministry of Education, Universities and Research (MIUR) (Italy)
OSTI Identifier:
1466293
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-06CH11357; SC0012482; SC0001059; CHE-1503852; DMR-1420709; 60NANB15D077; RBFR13PSB6
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Chemistry of Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 30; Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0897-4756
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY

Citation Formats

Carlotti, Benedetta, Cai, Zhengxu, Kim, Hyungjun, Sharapov, Valerii, Madu, Ifeanyi Kizito, Zhao, Donglin, Chen, Wei, Zimmerman, Paul M., Yu, Luping, and Goodson, Theodore. Charge Transfer and Aggregation Effects on the Performance of Planar vs Twisted Nonfullerene Acceptor Isomers for Organic Solar Cells. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01047.
Carlotti, Benedetta, Cai, Zhengxu, Kim, Hyungjun, Sharapov, Valerii, Madu, Ifeanyi Kizito, Zhao, Donglin, Chen, Wei, Zimmerman, Paul M., Yu, Luping, & Goodson, Theodore. Charge Transfer and Aggregation Effects on the Performance of Planar vs Twisted Nonfullerene Acceptor Isomers for Organic Solar Cells. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01047
Carlotti, Benedetta, Cai, Zhengxu, Kim, Hyungjun, Sharapov, Valerii, Madu, Ifeanyi Kizito, Zhao, Donglin, Chen, Wei, Zimmerman, Paul M., Yu, Luping, and Goodson, Theodore. Tue . "Charge Transfer and Aggregation Effects on the Performance of Planar vs Twisted Nonfullerene Acceptor Isomers for Organic Solar Cells". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01047. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1466293.
@article{osti_1466293,
title = {Charge Transfer and Aggregation Effects on the Performance of Planar vs Twisted Nonfullerene Acceptor Isomers for Organic Solar Cells},
author = {Carlotti, Benedetta and Cai, Zhengxu and Kim, Hyungjun and Sharapov, Valerii and Madu, Ifeanyi Kizito and Zhao, Donglin and Chen, Wei and Zimmerman, Paul M. and Yu, Luping and Goodson, Theodore},
abstractNote = {In this paper, newly synthesized perylene diimide dimers were investigated as nonfullerene electron acceptors for organic solar cells. In particular, two analogous positional isomers exhibiting twisted vs planar geometries were prepared to make a direct comparison of their optical and electronic properties. These properties were investigated to provide information regarding the impact of the nonfullerene acceptor geometry on the ultimate photovoltaic performance. The two isomers exhibited strikingly different optical and photophysical properties in solution as well as in film. The ultrafast spectroscopic investigation in solution revealed the occurrence of charge transfer upon photoexcitation, which takes place more efficiently in the planar isomer. This is also supported by theoretical simulations. Finally, the planar conformation exhibits higher aggregation in the neat film as well as in the blend. However, our results suggest that the dominance of intramolecular charge transfer in the planar isomer is the crucial factor in determining the improved power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells.},
doi = {10.1021/acs.chemmater.8b01047},
journal = {Chemistry of Materials},
number = 13,
volume = 30,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Jun 12 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

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Scheme 1 Scheme 1: Synthetic route for investigated structures.

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Works referencing / citing this record:

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