Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors

Yuliar Firdaus; Vincent M. Le Corre; Safakath Karuthedath; Wenlan Liu; Anastasia Markina; Wentao Huang; Shirsopratim Chattopadhyay; Masrur Morshed Nahid; Mohamad I. Nugraha; Yuanbao Lin; Akmaral Seitkhan; Aniruddha Basu; Weimin Zhang; Iain McCulloch; Harald Ade; John G. Labram; Frédéric Laquai; Denis Andrienko; L. Jan Anton Koster; Thomas D. Anthopoulos

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9

Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors

Yuliar Firdaus, Vincent M. Le Corre, Safakath Karuthedath, Wenlan Liu, Anastasia Markina, Wentao Huang, Shirsopratim Chattopadhyay, Masrur Morshed Nahid, Mohamad I. Nugraha, Yuanbao Lin, Akmaral Seitkhan, Aniruddha Basu, Weimin Zhang, Iain McCulloch, Harald Ade, John G. Labram, Frédéric Laquai, Denis Andrienko, L. Jan Anton Koster, Thomas D. Anthopoulos

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Abstract

Abstract The short exciton diffusion length associated with most classical organic semiconductors used in organic photovoltaics (5-20 nm) imposes severe limits on the maximum size of the donor and acceptor domains within the photoactive layer of the cell. Identifying materials that are able to transport excitons over longer distances can help advancing our understanding and lead to solar cells with higher efficiency. Here, we measure the exciton diffusion length in a wide range of nonfullerene acceptor molecules using two different experimental techniques based on photocurrent and ultrafast spectroscopy measurements. The acceptors exhibit balanced ambipolar charge transport and surprisingly long exciton diffusion lengths in the range of 20 to 47 nm. With the aid of quantum-chemical calculations, we are able to rationalize the exciton dynamics and draw basic chemical design rules, particularly on the importance of the end-group substituent on the crystal packing of nonfullerene acceptors.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	11
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9
State	Published - Oct 15 2020

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-11-03
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079.
Acknowledgements: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. The work by V.M.L.C. is supported by a grant from STW/NWO (VIDI 13476). This is a publication by the FOM Focus Group “Next Generation Organic Photovoltaics”, participating in the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER). D.A. acknowledges funding from the BMBF grants InterPhase and MESOMERIE (FKZ 13N13661, FKZ 13N13656) and the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program “Widening materials models” under Grant Agreement
No. 646259 (MOSTOPHOS). D.A. also acknowledges the KAUST PSE Division for hosting his sabbatical in the framework of the Division’s Visiting Faculty program. A.M. acknowledges postdoctoral support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. H.A.and M.M.N. acknowledge the support from the University of North Carolina General Administration Research Opportunity Initiative (ROI) and U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231) for X-ray data acquisition at beamline 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley National Laboratory, California.

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Firdaus, Y., Le Corre, V. M., Karuthedath, S., Liu, W., Markina, A., Huang, W., Chattopadhyay, S., Nahid, M. M., Nugraha, M. I., Lin, Y., Seitkhan, A., Basu, A., Zhang, W., McCulloch, I., Ade, H., Labram, J. G., Laquai, F., Andrienko, D., Koster, L. J. A., & Anthopoulos, T. D. (2020). Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors. Nature Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9

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title = "Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors",

abstract = "Abstract The short exciton diffusion length associated with most classical organic semiconductors used in organic photovoltaics (5-20 nm) imposes severe limits on the maximum size of the donor and acceptor domains within the photoactive layer of the cell. Identifying materials that are able to transport excitons over longer distances can help advancing our understanding and lead to solar cells with higher efficiency. Here, we measure the exciton diffusion length in a wide range of nonfullerene acceptor molecules using two different experimental techniques based on photocurrent and ultrafast spectroscopy measurements. The acceptors exhibit balanced ambipolar charge transport and surprisingly long exciton diffusion lengths in the range of 20 to 47 nm. With the aid of quantum-chemical calculations, we are able to rationalize the exciton dynamics and draw basic chemical design rules, particularly on the importance of the end-group substituent on the crystal packing of nonfullerene acceptors.",

author = "Yuliar Firdaus and {Le Corre}, {Vincent M.} and Safakath Karuthedath and Wenlan Liu and Anastasia Markina and Wentao Huang and Shirsopratim Chattopadhyay and Nahid, {Masrur Morshed} and Nugraha, {Mohamad I.} and Yuanbao Lin and Akmaral Seitkhan and Aniruddha Basu and Weimin Zhang and Iain McCulloch and Harald Ade and Labram, {John G.} and Fr{\'e}d{\'e}ric Laquai and Denis Andrienko and Koster, {L. Jan Anton} and Anthopoulos, {Thomas D.}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-11-03 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. Acknowledgements: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. The work by V.M.L.C. is supported by a grant from STW/NWO (VIDI 13476). This is a publication by the FOM Focus Group “Next Generation Organic Photovoltaics”, participating in the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER). D.A. acknowledges funding from the BMBF grants InterPhase and MESOMERIE (FKZ 13N13661, FKZ 13N13656) and the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program “Widening materials models” under Grant Agreement No. 646259 (MOSTOPHOS). D.A. also acknowledges the KAUST PSE Division for hosting his sabbatical in the framework of the Division{\textquoteright}s Visiting Faculty program. A.M. acknowledges postdoctoral support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. H.A.and M.M.N. acknowledge the support from the University of North Carolina General Administration Research Opportunity Initiative (ROI) and U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231) for X-ray data acquisition at beamline 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley National Laboratory, California.",

year = "2020",

month = oct,

day = "15",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "11",

journal = "Nature Communications",

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Firdaus, Y, Le Corre, VM, Karuthedath, S, Liu, W, Markina, A, Huang, W, Chattopadhyay, S, Nahid, MM, Nugraha, MI, Lin, Y, Seitkhan, A, Basu, A, Zhang, W, McCulloch, I, Ade, H, Labram, JG, Laquai, F, Andrienko, D, Koster, LJA & Anthopoulos, TD 2020, 'Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors', Nature Communications, vol. 11, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9

TY - JOUR

T1 - Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors

AU - Firdaus, Yuliar

AU - Le Corre, Vincent M.

AU - Karuthedath, Safakath

AU - Liu, Wenlan

AU - Markina, Anastasia

AU - Huang, Wentao

AU - Chattopadhyay, Shirsopratim

AU - Nahid, Masrur Morshed

AU - Nugraha, Mohamad I.

AU - Lin, Yuanbao

AU - Seitkhan, Akmaral

AU - Basu, Aniruddha

AU - Zhang, Weimin

AU - McCulloch, Iain

AU - Ade, Harald

AU - Labram, John G.

AU - Laquai, Frédéric

AU - Andrienko, Denis

AU - Koster, L. Jan Anton

AU - Anthopoulos, Thomas D.

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-11-03 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. Acknowledgements: This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No. OSR-2018-CARF/CCF-3079. The work by V.M.L.C. is supported by a grant from STW/NWO (VIDI 13476). This is a publication by the FOM Focus Group “Next Generation Organic Photovoltaics”, participating in the Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research (DIFFER). D.A. acknowledges funding from the BMBF grants InterPhase and MESOMERIE (FKZ 13N13661, FKZ 13N13656) and the European Union Horizon 2020 research and innovation program “Widening materials models” under Grant Agreement No. 646259 (MOSTOPHOS). D.A. also acknowledges the KAUST PSE Division for hosting his sabbatical in the framework of the Division’s Visiting Faculty program. A.M. acknowledges postdoctoral support of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. H.A.and M.M.N. acknowledge the support from the University of North Carolina General Administration Research Opportunity Initiative (ROI) and U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231) for X-ray data acquisition at beamline 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley National Laboratory, California.

PY - 2020/10/15

Y1 - 2020/10/15

N2 - Abstract The short exciton diffusion length associated with most classical organic semiconductors used in organic photovoltaics (5-20 nm) imposes severe limits on the maximum size of the donor and acceptor domains within the photoactive layer of the cell. Identifying materials that are able to transport excitons over longer distances can help advancing our understanding and lead to solar cells with higher efficiency. Here, we measure the exciton diffusion length in a wide range of nonfullerene acceptor molecules using two different experimental techniques based on photocurrent and ultrafast spectroscopy measurements. The acceptors exhibit balanced ambipolar charge transport and surprisingly long exciton diffusion lengths in the range of 20 to 47 nm. With the aid of quantum-chemical calculations, we are able to rationalize the exciton dynamics and draw basic chemical design rules, particularly on the importance of the end-group substituent on the crystal packing of nonfullerene acceptors.

AB - Abstract The short exciton diffusion length associated with most classical organic semiconductors used in organic photovoltaics (5-20 nm) imposes severe limits on the maximum size of the donor and acceptor domains within the photoactive layer of the cell. Identifying materials that are able to transport excitons over longer distances can help advancing our understanding and lead to solar cells with higher efficiency. Here, we measure the exciton diffusion length in a wide range of nonfullerene acceptor molecules using two different experimental techniques based on photocurrent and ultrafast spectroscopy measurements. The acceptors exhibit balanced ambipolar charge transport and surprisingly long exciton diffusion lengths in the range of 20 to 47 nm. With the aid of quantum-chemical calculations, we are able to rationalize the exciton dynamics and draw basic chemical design rules, particularly on the importance of the end-group substituent on the crystal packing of nonfullerene acceptors.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/665769

UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19029-9

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85092584343&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9

DO - 10.1038/s41467-020-19029-9

M3 - Article

C2 - 33060574

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 11

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

ER -

Long-range exciton diffusion in molecular non-fullerene acceptors

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