scholarly journals Charge Generation and Recombination in Diketopyrrolopyrrole Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunctions Studied by Transient Absorption and Time-Resolved Microwave Conductivity

2016 ◽  
Vol 120 (50) ◽  
pp. 28398-28406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryuzi Katoh ◽  
Hiroyuki Matsuzaki ◽  
Akihiro Furube ◽  
Prashant Sonar ◽  
Evan L. Williams ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Bulk Heterojunctions ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Microwave Conductivity ◽  
Time Resolved

scholarly journals Spectroscopic investigation of excitonic and charge photogeneration processes in organic photovoltaic cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Joseph Gallaher
Keyword(s):  
Excited States ◽  
Charge Separation ◽  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Triplet Exciton ◽  
Organic Photovoltaic ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Blend Morphology ◽  
Time Resolved Photoluminescence

<p>Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells show significant promise as a renewable energy resource capable of meeting the world’s large and growing energy needs. Increasing device efficiency is central to achieving an economically viable option for widespread applications. To this end, a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of the electronic excited states is needed. In particular, the mechanism by which excitons (electron-hole pairs) escape their Coulombic attraction and generate photocurrent is yet to be established. In this thesis ultrafast laser spectroscopy, in particular transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence, are used to study: exciton relaxation, morphological effects on charge separation, and the pathway leading to triplet exciton states.  In Chapter 3, a series of oligothiophenes are synthesised with well-defined conjugation lengths to act as molecular models of polymer backbone sub-units, and thereby probe exciton relaxation processes. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy measurements presented in Chapter 4 reveal emission signatures evolve from a mirror image of absorption - which lacks vibronic structure - towards a spectrally narrower and vibronically structured species on the hundreds of femtosecond to early picosecond timescale. Analysis of this spectral evolution shows that a broad distribution of torsional conformers is driven to rapidly planarize in the excited state, including in solid films. This provides evidence that both torsional relaxation and energy migration could contribute to the non-mirror image absorption-emission spectra observed in polymer thin films.  Recently, long lived TA signatures have been attributed to triplet excited states with the suggested formation pathway being similar to organic light emitting diodes, whereby non-geminate (bimolecular) charge recombination leads to the formation of both singlet and triplet states. Isolated oligothiophenes in solution provide an ideal model system to investigate the role of structural relaxation on triplet exciton formation. Through analysis of TA spectral dynamics in Chapter 5, singlet and triplet exciton populations were tracked. Restriction of the torsional relaxation increased triplet yield suggesting vibrational hot states could drive triplet formation. This model could aid in understanding triplet exciton formation in polymer-based solar cells via spin-mixing instead of non-geminate recombination.  In a series of polymer:fullerene blends, the link between the nature of polymerfullerene intermixing and charge generation pathways was investigated. It is shown in Chapter 6 that free charge generation is most efficient in a 3-phase morphology that features intimately mixed polymer:fullerene regions amongst neat polymer and fullerene phases. Distinct spectroscopic signatures made it possible to determine whether holes occupy disordered or crystalline polymer chains. TA spectral dynamics reveal the migration of holes from intermixed to pure olymer regions in 3-phase morphology blends, which contrasted with observations in 2-phase blends. The energy gradient between the intermixed and phase-pure regions may be sufficient to drive efficient separation of charge pairs initially generated in intermixed regions, with free charges subsequently percolating through these phase-pure domains.  The photophysics of a high performance polymer:polymer blend is studied in Chapter 7 in an effort to elucidate how these blends can rival their polymer:fullerene counterparts. Optical spectroscopy reveals incomplete exciton dissociation and rapid geminate recombination in the blends. This is shown to result from a largely phase-separated morphology with domains greater than the exciton diffusion length. Significant loss of charge carriers on early timescales highlights increasing polymer: polymer solar cell efficiency requires optimizing blend morphology to realise facile charge separation.  Taken together, this thesis presents a valuable spectroscopic insight into the pathway of efficient charge separation and the importance of both blend morphology and polymer structure.</p>

scholarly journals Integrating theory, synthesis, spectroscopy and device efficiency to design and characterize donor materials for organic photovoltaics: a case study including 12 donors

2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (18) ◽  
pp. 9777-9788 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. D. Oosterhout ◽  
N. Kopidakis ◽  
Z. R. Owczarczyk ◽  
W. A. Braunecker ◽  
R. E. Larsen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Organic Photovoltaics ◽  
Energy Levels ◽  
Device Fabrication ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Microwave Conductivity ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Device Efficiency

Calculations predict energy levels of polymers for OPV, and time-resolved microwave conductivity pre-screens for charge generation ability prior to device fabrication.

scholarly journals Spectroscopic investigation of excitonic and charge photogeneration processes in organic photovoltaic cells

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Joseph Gallaher
Keyword(s):  
Excited States ◽  
Charge Separation ◽  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Mirror Image ◽  
Triplet Exciton ◽  
Organic Photovoltaic ◽  
Charge Generation ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Blend Morphology ◽  
Time Resolved Photoluminescence

<p>Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells show significant promise as a renewable energy resource capable of meeting the world’s large and growing energy needs. Increasing device efficiency is central to achieving an economically viable option for widespread applications. To this end, a better understanding of the structure and dynamics of the electronic excited states is needed. In particular, the mechanism by which excitons (electron-hole pairs) escape their Coulombic attraction and generate photocurrent is yet to be established. In this thesis ultrafast laser spectroscopy, in particular transient absorption and time-resolved photoluminescence, are used to study: exciton relaxation, morphological effects on charge separation, and the pathway leading to triplet exciton states.  In Chapter 3, a series of oligothiophenes are synthesised with well-defined conjugation lengths to act as molecular models of polymer backbone sub-units, and thereby probe exciton relaxation processes. Time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) and transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy measurements presented in Chapter 4 reveal emission signatures evolve from a mirror image of absorption - which lacks vibronic structure - towards a spectrally narrower and vibronically structured species on the hundreds of femtosecond to early picosecond timescale. Analysis of this spectral evolution shows that a broad distribution of torsional conformers is driven to rapidly planarize in the excited state, including in solid films. This provides evidence that both torsional relaxation and energy migration could contribute to the non-mirror image absorption-emission spectra observed in polymer thin films.  Recently, long lived TA signatures have been attributed to triplet excited states with the suggested formation pathway being similar to organic light emitting diodes, whereby non-geminate (bimolecular) charge recombination leads to the formation of both singlet and triplet states. Isolated oligothiophenes in solution provide an ideal model system to investigate the role of structural relaxation on triplet exciton formation. Through analysis of TA spectral dynamics in Chapter 5, singlet and triplet exciton populations were tracked. Restriction of the torsional relaxation increased triplet yield suggesting vibrational hot states could drive triplet formation. This model could aid in understanding triplet exciton formation in polymer-based solar cells via spin-mixing instead of non-geminate recombination.  In a series of polymer:fullerene blends, the link between the nature of polymerfullerene intermixing and charge generation pathways was investigated. It is shown in Chapter 6 that free charge generation is most efficient in a 3-phase morphology that features intimately mixed polymer:fullerene regions amongst neat polymer and fullerene phases. Distinct spectroscopic signatures made it possible to determine whether holes occupy disordered or crystalline polymer chains. TA spectral dynamics reveal the migration of holes from intermixed to pure olymer regions in 3-phase morphology blends, which contrasted with observations in 2-phase blends. The energy gradient between the intermixed and phase-pure regions may be sufficient to drive efficient separation of charge pairs initially generated in intermixed regions, with free charges subsequently percolating through these phase-pure domains.  The photophysics of a high performance polymer:polymer blend is studied in Chapter 7 in an effort to elucidate how these blends can rival their polymer:fullerene counterparts. Optical spectroscopy reveals incomplete exciton dissociation and rapid geminate recombination in the blends. This is shown to result from a largely phase-separated morphology with domains greater than the exciton diffusion length. Significant loss of charge carriers on early timescales highlights increasing polymer: polymer solar cell efficiency requires optimizing blend morphology to realise facile charge separation.  Taken together, this thesis presents a valuable spectroscopic insight into the pathway of efficient charge separation and the importance of both blend morphology and polymer structure.</p>

scholarly journals Ultrafast proton release reaction and primary photochemistry of phycocyanobilin in solution observed with fs-time-resolved mid-IR and UV/Vis spectroscopy

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maximilian Theiß ◽  
Merten Grupe ◽  
Tilman Lamparter ◽  
Maria Andrea Mroginski ◽  
Rolf Diller
Keyword(s):  
Density Functional ◽  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Vibrational Analysis ◽  
Density Functional Theory Calculations ◽  
Chem Phys ◽  
Molecular Structures ◽  
Ir Absorption ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Time Constants ◽  
Vis Spectroscopy

AbstractDeactivation processes of photoexcited (λex = 580 nm) phycocyanobilin (PCB) in methanol were investigated by means of UV/Vis and mid-IR femtosecond (fs) transient absorption (TA) as well as static fluorescence spectroscopy, supported by density-functional-theory calculations of three relevant ground state conformers, PCBA, PCBB and PCBC, their relative electronic state energies and normal mode vibrational analysis. UV/Vis fs-TA reveals time constants of 2.0, 18 and 67 ps, describing decay of PCBB*, of PCBA* and thermal re-equilibration of PCBA, PCBB and PCBC, respectively, in line with the model by Dietzek et al. (Chem Phys Lett 515:163, 2011) and predecessors. Significant substantiation and extension of this model is achieved first via mid-IR fs-TA, i.e. identification of molecular structures and their dynamics, with time constants of 2.6, 21 and 40 ps, respectively. Second, transient IR continuum absorption (CA) is observed in the region above 1755 cm−1 (CA1) and between 1550 and 1450 cm−1 (CA2), indicative for the IR absorption of highly polarizable protons in hydrogen bonding networks (X–H…Y). This allows to characterize chromophore protonation/deprotonation processes, associated with the electronic and structural dynamics, on a molecular level. The PCB photocycle is suggested to be closed via a long living (> 1 ns), PCBC-like (i.e. deprotonated), fluorescent species.

scholarly journals The role of spin in the degradation of organic photovoltaics

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivan Ramirez ◽  
Alberto Privitera ◽  
Safakath Karuthedath ◽  
Anna Jungbluth ◽  
Johannes Benduhn ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Bulk Heterojunction ◽  
Critical Factor ◽  
Model Systems ◽  
Transient Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Triplet States ◽  
Paramagnetic Resonance ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
A Charge

AbstractStability is now a critical factor in the commercialization of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Both extrinsic stability to oxygen and water and intrinsic stability to light and heat in inert conditions must be achieved. Triplet states are known to be problematic in both cases, leading to singlet oxygen production or fullerene dimerization. The latter is thought to proceed from unquenched singlet excitons that have undergone intersystem crossing (ISC). Instead, we show that in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells the photo-degradation of C60 via photo-oligomerization occurs primarily via back-hole transfer (BHT) from a charge-transfer state to a C60 excited triplet state. We demonstrate this to be the principal pathway from a combination of steady-state optoelectronic measurements, time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance, and temperature-dependent transient absorption spectroscopy on model systems. BHT is a much more serious concern than ISC because it cannot be mitigated by improved exciton quenching, obtained for example by a finer BHJ morphology. As BHT is not specific to fullerenes, our results suggest that the role of electron and hole back transfer in the degradation of BHJs should also be carefully considered when designing stable OPV devices.

scholarly journals Time-Resolved Spectroscopic Study of N,N-Di(4-bromo)nitrenium Ions in Selected Solutions

Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lili Du ◽  
Xin Lan ◽  
Zhiping Yan ◽  
Ruixue Zhu ◽  
David Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Direct Detection ◽  
Reaction Pathway ◽  
Addition Reactions ◽  
Time Resolved ◽  
Nitrenium Ions ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Nitrenium Ion ◽  
Design Time

Nitrenium ions are important reactive intermediates in chemistry and biology. In this work, femtosecond and nanosecond transient absorption (fs-TA and ns-TA) along with nanosecond time-resolved resonance Raman (ns-TR3) experiments were employed to examine the photochemical pathways of N-(4,4′-dibromodiphenylamino)-2,4,6-trimethylpyridinium BF4− (salt (DN) from just absorption of a photon of light to the production of the important N,N-di(4-bromophenyl)nitrenium ion 2. In acetonitrile (MeCN), the formation of halogenated diarylnitrenium ion 2 was observed within 4 ps, showing the vibrational spectra with strong intensity. The nucleophilic adduct reaction of ion 2 with H2O was also examined in aqueous solutions. The direct detection of the unique ortho adduct intermediate 3 shows that there is an efficient and exclusive reaction pathway for 2 with H2O. The results shown in this paper give new characterization of 2, which can be used to design time-resolved spectroscopy investigations of covalent addition reactions of nitrenium ions with other molecules in future studies.

Ultrafast Heme Dynamics in Ferrous versus Ferric CytochromecStudied by Time-Resolved Resonance Raman and Transient Absorption Spectroscopy

2006 ◽  
Vol 110 (25) ◽  
pp. 12766-12781 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel Negrerie ◽  
Simona Cianetti ◽  
Marten H. Vos ◽  
Jean-Louis Martin ◽  
Sergei G. Kruglik
Keyword(s):  
Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Transient Absorption ◽  
Resonance Raman ◽  
Transient Absorption Spectroscopy ◽  
Time Resolved

Straight, bent and twisted intramolecular charge separated states as seen by time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC)

1993 ◽  
Vol 65 (8) ◽  
pp. 1723-1728 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. Warman ◽  
S. A. Jonker ◽  
W. Schuddeboom ◽  
M. P. de Haas ◽  
M. N. Paddon-Row ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Microwave Conductivity ◽  
Time Resolved
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