Molecular-Scale Characterization of Photoinduced Charge Separation in Mixed-Dimensional InSe-Organic van der Waals Heterostructures.

Layered indium selenide (InSe) is an emerging two-dimensional semiconductor that has shown significant promise for high-performance transistors and photodetectors. The range of optoelectronic applications for InSe can potentially be broadened by forming mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterostructures with zero-dimensional molecular systems that are widely employed in organic electronics and photovoltaics. Here, we report the spatially resolved investigation of photoinduced charge separation between InSe and two molecules (C and C-BTBT) using scanning tunneling microscopy combined with laser illumination.

Hot Carrier and Surface Recombination Dynamics in Layered InSe Crystals.

Layered indium selenide (InSe) is a van der Waals solid that has emerged as a promising material for high-performance ultrathin solar cells. The optoelectronic parameters that are critical to photoconversion efficiencies, such as hot carrier lifetime and surface recombination velocity, are however largely unexplored in InSe. Here, these key photophysical properties of layered InSe are measured with femtosecond transient reflection spectroscopy.

Mechanisms of Ultrafast Charge Separation in a PTB7/Monolayer MoS van der Waals Heterojunction.

Mixed-dimensional van der Waals heterojunctions comprising polymer and two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have many characteristics of an ideal charge separation interface for optoelectronic and photonic applications. However, the photoelectron dynamics at polymer-2D semiconductor heterojunction interfaces are currently not sufficiently understood to guide the optimization of devices for these applications. This Letter reports a systematic exploration of the time-dependent photophysical processes that occur upon photoexcitation of a type-II heterojunction between the polymer PTB7 and monolayer MoS.

High-Performance Solution-Processed Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells Based on Selenophene-Containing Perylene Bisimide Acceptor.

Non-fullerene acceptors have recently attracted tremendous interest because of their potential as alternatives to fullerene derivatives in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. However, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have lagged far behind those of the polymer/fullerene system, mainly because of the low fill factor (FF) and photocurrent. Here we report a novel perylene bisimide (PBI) acceptor, SdiPBI-Se, in which selenium atoms were introduced into the perylene core.

Ultrafast charge transfer in operating bulk heterojunction solar cells.

The ultrafast charge generation process in organic solar cell devices is investigated by transient reflection spectroscopy on five state-of-the-art bulk heterojunction systems. The charge generation process in operating devices is found to be a combination of an ultrafast generation mechanism over several hundred femto-seconds and a slow process from pico-seconds to nanoseconds, limited by exciton diffusion dynamics. In addition, the lack of electric field dependence in the charge dynamics rules out geminate recombination as an important loss mechanism.

The influence of binary processing additives on the performance of polymer solar cells.

In this study, we report the investigation of the influence of binary processing additives, 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT) and 1-chloronaphthalene (CN) on the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). It was found that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) can be enhanced to 8.55% from the PSCs processed with binary processing additives as compared with ∼6.

Highly efficient inverted polymer solar cells based on a cross-linkable water-/alcohol-soluble conjugated polymer interlayer.

A cross-linkable water/alcohol soluble conjugated polymer (WSCP) material poly[9,9-bis(6'-(N,N-diethylamino)propyl)-fluorene-alt-9,9-bis(3-ethyl(oxetane-3-ethyloxy)-hexyl) fluorene] (PFN-OX) was designed. The cross-linkable nature of PFN-OX is good for fabricating inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs) with well-defined interface and investigating the detailed working mechanism of high-efficiency inverted PSCs based on poly[4,8-bis(2-ethylhexyloxyl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithio-phene-2,6-diyl-alt-ethylhexyl-3-fluorothithieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate-4,6-diyl] (PTB7) and (6,6)-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) blend active layer. The detailed working mechanism of WSCP materials in high-efficiency PSCs were studied and can be summarized into the following three effects: a) PFN-OX tunes cathode work function to enhance open-circuit voltage (Voc); b) PFN-OX dopes PC71BM at interface to facilitate electron extraction; and c) PFN-OX extracts electrons and blocks holes to enhance fill factor (FF).

Ultrafast Charge Generation in an Organic Bilayer Film.

The dynamics of charge generation in a high performing molecular photovoltaic system, p-SIDT(FBTTh2)2 (see Figure 1 ) is studied with transient absorption. The optimized bulk heterojunction material shows behavior observed in many other systems; the majority of charges are generated at short time scales (<150 fs), and a slower contribution from incoherently diffusing excitons is observed at low pump fluence. In a separate experiment, the role of bulk heterojunction material morphology on the process of ultrafast charge generation was investigated with bilayers made with solution processed donor molecules on a photopolymerized C60 layer.

Recent advances in water/alcohol-soluble π-conjugated materials: new materials and growing applications in solar cells.

Water/alcohol-soluble conjugated polymers (WSCPs) and small molecules (WSCSs) are materials that can be processed from water or other polar solvents. They provide good opportunities to fabricate multilayer organic optoelectronic devices without interface mixing by solution processing, and exhibit a promising interface modification ability for metal or metal oxide electrodes to greatly enhance the device performance of solar cells. Moreover, owing to their intriguing processability, WSCPs and WSCSs have great potential for applying environmentally friendly processing technologies to fabricate solar cells.

Electrochemical route to fabricate film-like conjugated microporous polymers and application for organic electronics.

Film-like conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are fabricated by the novel strategy of carbazole-based electropolymerization. The CMP film storing a mass of counterions acting as an anode interlayer provides a significant power-conversion efficiency of 7.56% in polymer solar cells and 20.

Ordered polymer nanofibers enhance output brightness in bilayer light-emitting field-effect transistors.

Polymer light emitting field effect transistors are a class of light emitting devices that reveal interesting device physics. Device performance can be directly correlated to the most fundamental polymer science. Control over surface properties of the transistor dielectric can dramatically change the polymer morphology, introducing ordered phase.

In situ electrochemical deposition and doping of C60 films applied to high-performance inverted organic photovoltaics.

Novel C(60)-based cross-linked films formed by electrodeposition are produced and used as the electron-collection layer in inverted polymer solar cells (PSCs). The electrodeposited films exhibit a low work function of 4.2 eV and the PSCs perform well, with power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.

Solution-processed bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells from gradient pi-conjugated thienylene vinylene dendrimers.

A series of gradient pi-conjugated dendrimers and their corresponding models based on 5,5,10,10,15,15-hexahexyltruxene moieties as nodes and oligo(thienylene vinylene) (OTVs) units with different lengths as branching arms are synthesized in good yields through Wittig-Horner reactions. All new compounds are fully characterized by (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, elemental analysis, and MALDI-TOF MS or ESI-MS. Investigation of their photophysical properties reveals that the gradient dendritic scaffold not only results in a higher molar absorption coefficient and broader absorption region than those of their corresponding model compounds, but also improves the PL quantum yields relative to the corresponding OTVs.