The fate of electron–hole pairs in polymer:fullerene blends for organic photovoltaics

Martina Causa'; Jelissa De Jonghe-Risse; Mariateresa Scarongella; Jan C. Brauer; Ester Domingo; Jacques-E. Moser; Natalie Stingelin; Natalie Banerji

doi:10.1038/ncomms12556

The fate of electron–hole pairs in polymer:fullerene blends for organic photovoltaics

Martina Causa', Jelissa De Jonghe-Risse, Mariateresa Scarongella, Jan C. Brauer, Ester Domingo, Jacques-E. Moser, Natalie Stingelin, Natalie Banerji

Physical Sciences and Engineering

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

69 Scopus citations

Abstract

There has been long-standing debate on how free charges are generated in donor: acceptor blends that are used in organic solar cells, and which are generally comprised of a complex phase morphology, where intermixed and neat phases of the donor and acceptor material co-exist. Here we resolve this question, basing our conclusions on Stark effect spectroscopy data obtained in the absence and presence of externally applied electric fields. Reconciling opposing views found in literature, we unambiguously demonstrate that the fate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs-whether they will dissociate to free charges or geminately recombine-is determined at ultrafast times, despite the fact that their actual spatial separation can be much slower. Our insights are important to further develop rational approaches towards material design and processing of organic solar cells, assisting to realize their purported promise as lead-free, third-generation energy technology that can reach efficiencies over 10%.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	7
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms12556
State	Published - Sep 2 2016

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledgements: M.C., M.S., J.C.B. and N.B. thank the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2_150536) and the University of Fribourg for funding. N.B., J.D.J.-R and J.-E.M are grateful to NCCR-MUST, a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation, for support. N.S. is supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Fellowship under the grant agreement No. 279587. E.B.-D. is funded by a SABIC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. We thank Prof. Martin Heeney (Imperial College, London, UK) for providing the pBTTT polymer, and we thank Prof. E. Vauthey and R. Letrun (Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland) for use of their fluorescence up-conversion set-up and help with the experiment. We thank Dr A. Devizis (Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius) for having built the EDA set-up and for useful discussion.

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10.1038/ncomms12556

https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/bitstream/10754/622033/1/ncomms12556.pdf

Cite this

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title = "The fate of electron–hole pairs in polymer:fullerene blends for organic photovoltaics",

abstract = "There has been long-standing debate on how free charges are generated in donor: acceptor blends that are used in organic solar cells, and which are generally comprised of a complex phase morphology, where intermixed and neat phases of the donor and acceptor material co-exist. Here we resolve this question, basing our conclusions on Stark effect spectroscopy data obtained in the absence and presence of externally applied electric fields. Reconciling opposing views found in literature, we unambiguously demonstrate that the fate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs-whether they will dissociate to free charges or geminately recombine-is determined at ultrafast times, despite the fact that their actual spatial separation can be much slower. Our insights are important to further develop rational approaches towards material design and processing of organic solar cells, assisting to realize their purported promise as lead-free, third-generation energy technology that can reach efficiencies over 10%.",

author = "Martina Causa' and Jonghe-Risse, {Jelissa De} and Mariateresa Scarongella and Brauer, {Jan C.} and Ester Domingo and Jacques-E. Moser and Natalie Stingelin and Natalie Banerji",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: M.C., M.S., J.C.B. and N.B. thank the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2_150536) and the University of Fribourg for funding. N.B., J.D.J.-R and J.-E.M are grateful to NCCR-MUST, a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation, for support. N.S. is supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Fellowship under the grant agreement No. 279587. E.B.-D. is funded by a SABIC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. We thank Prof. Martin Heeney (Imperial College, London, UK) for providing the pBTTT polymer, and we thank Prof. E. Vauthey and R. Letrun (Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland) for use of their fluorescence up-conversion set-up and help with the experiment. We thank Dr A. Devizis (Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius) for having built the EDA set-up and for useful discussion.",

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AU - Scarongella, Mariateresa

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AU - Domingo, Ester

AU - Moser, Jacques-E.

AU - Stingelin, Natalie

AU - Banerji, Natalie

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledgements: M.C., M.S., J.C.B. and N.B. thank the Swiss National Science Foundation (PP00P2_150536) and the University of Fribourg for funding. N.B., J.D.J.-R and J.-E.M are grateful to NCCR-MUST, a research instrument of the Swiss National Science Foundation, for support. N.S. is supported by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Independent Researcher Fellowship under the grant agreement No. 279587. E.B.-D. is funded by a SABIC Post-Doctoral Fellowship at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. We thank Prof. Martin Heeney (Imperial College, London, UK) for providing the pBTTT polymer, and we thank Prof. E. Vauthey and R. Letrun (Univ. of Geneva, Switzerland) for use of their fluorescence up-conversion set-up and help with the experiment. We thank Dr A. Devizis (Center for Physical Sciences and Technology, Vilnius) for having built the EDA set-up and for useful discussion.

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N2 - There has been long-standing debate on how free charges are generated in donor: acceptor blends that are used in organic solar cells, and which are generally comprised of a complex phase morphology, where intermixed and neat phases of the donor and acceptor material co-exist. Here we resolve this question, basing our conclusions on Stark effect spectroscopy data obtained in the absence and presence of externally applied electric fields. Reconciling opposing views found in literature, we unambiguously demonstrate that the fate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs-whether they will dissociate to free charges or geminately recombine-is determined at ultrafast times, despite the fact that their actual spatial separation can be much slower. Our insights are important to further develop rational approaches towards material design and processing of organic solar cells, assisting to realize their purported promise as lead-free, third-generation energy technology that can reach efficiencies over 10%.

AB - There has been long-standing debate on how free charges are generated in donor: acceptor blends that are used in organic solar cells, and which are generally comprised of a complex phase morphology, where intermixed and neat phases of the donor and acceptor material co-exist. Here we resolve this question, basing our conclusions on Stark effect spectroscopy data obtained in the absence and presence of externally applied electric fields. Reconciling opposing views found in literature, we unambiguously demonstrate that the fate of photogenerated electron-hole pairs-whether they will dissociate to free charges or geminately recombine-is determined at ultrafast times, despite the fact that their actual spatial separation can be much slower. Our insights are important to further develop rational approaches towards material design and processing of organic solar cells, assisting to realize their purported promise as lead-free, third-generation energy technology that can reach efficiencies over 10%.

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JO - Nature Communications

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ER -

The fate of electron–hole pairs in polymer:fullerene blends for organic photovoltaics

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