| 1. |
- Gillett, Alexander J., et al.
(författare)
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Spontaneous exciton dissociation enables spin state interconversion in delayed fluorescence organic semiconductors
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Nature Portfolio. - 2041-1723. ; 12:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Engineering a low singlet-triplet energy gap (Delta E-ST) is necessary for efficient reverse intersystem crossing (rISC) in delayed fluorescence (DF) organic semiconductors but results in a small radiative rate that limits performance in LEDs. Here, we study a model DF material, BF2, that exhibits a strong optical absorption (absorption coefficient = 3.8 x 10(5) cm(-1)) and a relatively large Delta E-ST of 0.2 eV. In isolated BF2 molecules, intramolecular rISC is slow (delayed lifetime = 260 mu s), but in aggregated films, BF2 generates intermolecular charge transfer (inter-CT) states on picosecond timescales. In contrast to the microsecond intramolecular rISC that is promoted by spin-orbit interactions in most isolated DF molecules, photoluminescence-detected magnetic resonance shows that these inter-CT states undergo rISC mediated by hyperfine interactions on a similar to 24 ns timescale and have an average electron-hole separation of >= 1.5 nm. Transfer back to the emissive singlet exciton then enables efficient DF and LED operation. Thus, access to these inter-CT states, which is possible even at low BF2 doping concentrations of 4 wt%, resolves the conflicting requirements of fast radiative emission and low Delta E-ST in organic DF emitters.
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| 2. |
- Gillett, Alexander J., et al.
(författare)
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The role of charge recombination to triplet excitons in organic solar cells
- 2021
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Ingår i: Nature. - : NATURE PORTFOLIO. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 597:7878, s. 666-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The use of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) in organic solar cells has led to power conversion efficiencies as high as 18%(1). However, organic solar cells are still less efficient than inorganic solar cells, which typically have power conversion efficiencies of more than 20%(2). A key reason for this difference is that organic solar cells have low open-circuit voltages relative to their optical bandgaps(3), owing to non-radiative recombination(4). For organic solar cells to compete with inorganic solar cells in terms of efficiency, non-radiative loss pathways must be identified and suppressed. Here we show that in most organic solar cells that use NFAs, the majority of charge recombination under open-circuit conditions proceeds via the formation of non-emissive NFA triplet excitons; in the benchmark PM6:Y6 blend(5), this fraction reaches 90%, reducing the open-circuit voltage by 60 mV. We prevent recombination via this non-radiative channel by engineering substantial hybridization between the NFA triplet excitons and the spin-triplet charge-transfer excitons. Modelling suggests that the rate of back charge transfer from spin-triplet charge-transfer excitons to molecular triplet excitons may be reduced by an order of magnitude, enabling re-dissociation of the spin-triplet charge-transfer exciton. We demonstrate NFA systems in which the formation of triplet excitons is suppressed. This work thus provides a design pathway for organic solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of 20% or more. A substantial pathway for energy loss in organic solar cells may be suppressed by engineering hybridization between non-fullerene acceptor triplet excitons and spin-triplet charge transfer excitons.
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| 3. |
- Holzer, Isabelle, et al.
(författare)
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Side chain engineering in indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole and its impact on mixed ionic-electronic transport properties
- 2024
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534.
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organic semiconductors are increasingly being decorated with hydrophilic solubilising chains to create materials that can function as mixed ionic-electronic conductors, which are promising candidates for interfacing biological systems with organic electronics. While numerous organic semiconductors, including p- and n-type materials, small molecules and polymers, have been successfully tailored to encompass mixed conduction properties, common to all these systems is that they have been semicrystalline materials. Here, we explore how side chain engineering in the nano-crystalline indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole (IDTBT) polymer can be used to instil ionic transport properties and how this in turn influences the electronic transport properties. This allows us to ultimately assess the mixed ionic-electronic transport properties of these new IDTBT polymers using the organic electrochemical transistor as the testing platform. Using a complementary experimental and computational approach, we find that polar IDTBT derivatives can be infiltrated by water and solvated ions, they can be electrochemically doped efficiently in aqueous electrolyte with fast doping kinetics, and upon aqueous swelling there is no deterioration of the close interchain contacts that are vital for efficient charge transport in the IDTBT system. Despite these promising attributes, mixed ionic-electronic charge transport properties are surprisingly poor in all the polar IDTBT derivatives. Albeit a "negative" result, this finding clearly contradicts established side chain engineering rules for mixed ionic-electronic conductors, which motivated our continued investigation of this system. We eventually find this anomalous behaviour to be caused by increasing energetic disorder in the polymers with increasing polar side chain content. We have investigated computationally how the polar side chain motifs contribute to this detrimental energetic inhomogeneity and ultimately use the learnings to propose new molecular design criteria for side chains that can facilitate ion transport without impeding electronic transport.
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| 4. |
- Quintano, Vanesa, et al.
(författare)
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Measurement of the conformational switching of azobenzenes from the macro- to attomolar scale in self-assembled 2D and 3D nanostructures
- 2021
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9084 .- 1463-9076. ; 23:20, s. 11698-11708
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It is important, but challenging, to measure the (photo)induced switching of molecules in different chemical environments, from solution through thin layers to solid bulk crystals. We compare the cis-trans conformational switching of commercial azobenzene molecules in different liquid and solid environments: polar solutions, liquid polymers, 2D nanostructures and 3D crystals. We achieve this goal by using complementary techniques: optical absorption spectroscopy, femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, Kelvin probe force microscopy and reflectance spectroscopy, supported by density functional theory calculations. We could observe the same molecule showing fast switching in a few picoseconds, when studied as an isolated molecule in water, or slow switching in tens of minutes, when assembled in 3D crystals. It is worth noting that we could also observe switching for small ensembles of molecules (a few attomoles), representing an intermediate case between single molecules and bulk structures. This was achieved using Kelvin probe force microscopy to monitor the change of surface potential of nanometric thin 2D islands containing ca. 10(6) molecules each, self-assembled on a substrate. This approach is not limited to azobenzenes, but can be used to observe molecular switching in isolated ensembles of molecules or other nano-objects and to study synergistic molecular processes at the nanoscale.
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