Surface Polarization Drives Photoinduced Charge Separation at the P3HT/Water Interface

Edoardo Mosconi; Paolo Salvatori; Maria Ilenia Saba; Alessandro Matton; Sebastiano Bellani; Francesco Bruni; Beatriz Santiago Gonzalez; Maria Rosa Antognazza; Sergio Brovelli; Guglielrno Lanzani; Hong Li; Jean-Luc Bredas; Filippo De Angelie

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197

Surface Polarization Drives Photoinduced Charge Separation at the P3HT/Water Interface

Edoardo Mosconi, Paolo Salvatori, Maria Ilenia Saba, Alessandro Matton, Sebastiano Bellani, Francesco Bruni, Beatriz Santiago Gonzalez, Maria Rosa Antognazza, Sergio Brovelli, Guglielrno Lanzani, Hong Li, Jean-Luc Bredas, Filippo De Angelie

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Abstract

Hybrid devices employing organic semiconductors interfaced with an aqueous solution represent a new frontier in bioelectronics and energy applications. Understanding of the energetics and photoinduced processes occurring at the organic/water interface is fundamental for further progress. Here, we investigate the interfacial electronic structure of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and a liquid water electrolyte. The aqueous solution is found to polarize the polymer outermost layers, which together with the polymer p-(photo) doping by dissolved oxygen localizes photogenerated electrons at the P3HT/water interface, while holes can be transferred to the ITO electrode. Under illumination, the polymer/water interface is negatively charged, attracting positive ions from the electrolyte solution and perturbing the ion distribution in the aqueous solution. The observed mechanism is of general character and could underlie the behavior of a variety of devices characterized by an organic/water interface, such as prosthetic devices for artificial vision and organic-based systems for photoelectrochemical applications.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	454-463
Number of pages	10
Journal	ACS Energy Letters
Volume	1
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197
State	Published - Jul 27 2016

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-07-07
Acknowledgements: P.S., E.M., F.D.A., A.M., and M.I.S. acknowledge CompuNet Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, for funding this research. A.M. and M.I.S. thank MIUR and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (Project Netergit) and CINECA (ISCRA VIPER, SOAP and THESTA). S.B., G.L., and M.R.A. acknowledge the financial support from the European Community through Projects FP7-PEOPLE-212-ITN 316832 (OLIMPIA) and the FET Collaborative Project 309223 (PHOCS), from the Telethon - Italy foundation (Grants GGP12033 and GGP14022) and from Fondazione Cariplo (Grant ID 2013-0738). J.-L.B. acknowledges generous support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and ONR-Global (Grant N62909-15-1-2003). The authors acknowledge Wan Ki Bae for the synthesis of the dual-emitting CdSe/CdS heterostructures.

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@article{8bf2ea563e8946368563b3b05b04bb66,

title = "Surface Polarization Drives Photoinduced Charge Separation at the P3HT/Water Interface",

abstract = "Hybrid devices employing organic semiconductors interfaced with an aqueous solution represent a new frontier in bioelectronics and energy applications. Understanding of the energetics and photoinduced processes occurring at the organic/water interface is fundamental for further progress. Here, we investigate the interfacial electronic structure of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and a liquid water electrolyte. The aqueous solution is found to polarize the polymer outermost layers, which together with the polymer p-(photo) doping by dissolved oxygen localizes photogenerated electrons at the P3HT/water interface, while holes can be transferred to the ITO electrode. Under illumination, the polymer/water interface is negatively charged, attracting positive ions from the electrolyte solution and perturbing the ion distribution in the aqueous solution. The observed mechanism is of general character and could underlie the behavior of a variety of devices characterized by an organic/water interface, such as prosthetic devices for artificial vision and organic-based systems for photoelectrochemical applications.",

author = "Edoardo Mosconi and Paolo Salvatori and Saba, {Maria Ilenia} and Alessandro Matton and Sebastiano Bellani and Francesco Bruni and Gonzalez, {Beatriz Santiago} and Antognazza, {Maria Rosa} and Sergio Brovelli and Guglielrno Lanzani and Hong Li and Jean-Luc Bredas and {De Angelie}, Filippo",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-07-07 Acknowledgements: P.S., E.M., F.D.A., A.M., and M.I.S. acknowledge CompuNet Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, for funding this research. A.M. and M.I.S. thank MIUR and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (Project Netergit) and CINECA (ISCRA VIPER, SOAP and THESTA). S.B., G.L., and M.R.A. acknowledge the financial support from the European Community through Projects FP7-PEOPLE-212-ITN 316832 (OLIMPIA) and the FET Collaborative Project 309223 (PHOCS), from the Telethon - Italy foundation (Grants GGP12033 and GGP14022) and from Fondazione Cariplo (Grant ID 2013-0738). J.-L.B. acknowledges generous support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and ONR-Global (Grant N62909-15-1-2003). The authors acknowledge Wan Ki Bae for the synthesis of the dual-emitting CdSe/CdS heterostructures.",

year = "2016",

month = jul,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "1",

pages = "454--463",

journal = "ACS Energy Letters",

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publisher = "American Chemical Society",

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T1 - Surface Polarization Drives Photoinduced Charge Separation at the P3HT/Water Interface

AU - Mosconi, Edoardo

AU - Salvatori, Paolo

AU - Saba, Maria Ilenia

AU - Matton, Alessandro

AU - Bellani, Sebastiano

AU - Bruni, Francesco

AU - Gonzalez, Beatriz Santiago

AU - Antognazza, Maria Rosa

AU - Brovelli, Sergio

AU - Lanzani, Guglielrno

AU - Li, Hong

AU - Bredas, Jean-Luc

AU - De Angelie, Filippo

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-07-07 Acknowledgements: P.S., E.M., F.D.A., A.M., and M.I.S. acknowledge CompuNet Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia, for funding this research. A.M. and M.I.S. thank MIUR and Regione Autonoma della Sardegna (Project Netergit) and CINECA (ISCRA VIPER, SOAP and THESTA). S.B., G.L., and M.R.A. acknowledge the financial support from the European Community through Projects FP7-PEOPLE-212-ITN 316832 (OLIMPIA) and the FET Collaborative Project 309223 (PHOCS), from the Telethon - Italy foundation (Grants GGP12033 and GGP14022) and from Fondazione Cariplo (Grant ID 2013-0738). J.-L.B. acknowledges generous support from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology and ONR-Global (Grant N62909-15-1-2003). The authors acknowledge Wan Ki Bae for the synthesis of the dual-emitting CdSe/CdS heterostructures.

PY - 2016/7/27

Y1 - 2016/7/27

N2 - Hybrid devices employing organic semiconductors interfaced with an aqueous solution represent a new frontier in bioelectronics and energy applications. Understanding of the energetics and photoinduced processes occurring at the organic/water interface is fundamental for further progress. Here, we investigate the interfacial electronic structure of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and a liquid water electrolyte. The aqueous solution is found to polarize the polymer outermost layers, which together with the polymer p-(photo) doping by dissolved oxygen localizes photogenerated electrons at the P3HT/water interface, while holes can be transferred to the ITO electrode. Under illumination, the polymer/water interface is negatively charged, attracting positive ions from the electrolyte solution and perturbing the ion distribution in the aqueous solution. The observed mechanism is of general character and could underlie the behavior of a variety of devices characterized by an organic/water interface, such as prosthetic devices for artificial vision and organic-based systems for photoelectrochemical applications.

AB - Hybrid devices employing organic semiconductors interfaced with an aqueous solution represent a new frontier in bioelectronics and energy applications. Understanding of the energetics and photoinduced processes occurring at the organic/water interface is fundamental for further progress. Here, we investigate the interfacial electronic structure of poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) sandwiched between an indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and a liquid water electrolyte. The aqueous solution is found to polarize the polymer outermost layers, which together with the polymer p-(photo) doping by dissolved oxygen localizes photogenerated electrons at the P3HT/water interface, while holes can be transferred to the ITO electrode. Under illumination, the polymer/water interface is negatively charged, attracting positive ions from the electrolyte solution and perturbing the ion distribution in the aqueous solution. The observed mechanism is of general character and could underlie the behavior of a variety of devices characterized by an organic/water interface, such as prosthetic devices for artificial vision and organic-based systems for photoelectrochemical applications.

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UR - https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197

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U2 - 10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197

DO - 10.1021/acsenergylett.6b00197

M3 - Article

SN - 2380-8195

VL - 1

SP - 454

EP - 463

JO - ACS Energy Letters

JF - ACS Energy Letters

IS - 2

ER -

Surface Polarization Drives Photoinduced Charge Separation at the P3HT/Water Interface

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