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Abstract:

We measure photoinduced excitations in a dicyanovinyl end-capped methylated quaterthiophene derivative in blends with the electron acceptor C60, as already employed in organic photovoltaics. By using DFT calculations and analyzing the recombination characteristics of the excited states revealed by photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy, the absorption peaks are assigned to triplet exciton, cation, and anion transitions. We determine the temperature dependent generation and recombination behavior of triplet excitons and cations in the mixed layer. At 10 K, we observe an enhanced triplet exciton generation rate compared to the pristine donor layer due to back recombination from a charge-transfer (CT) state at the donor-acceptor interface. With increasing temperature, the triplet generation rate first increases which is ascribed to an enhanced singlet exciton migration to this interface. Above 150 K, the triplet generation rate declines due to the beginning CT exciton separation, leading to the generation of free charge carriers. This temperature activated behavior is ascribed to a temperature activated increase of charge carrier mobility, facilitating CT exciton splitting. © 2012 American Chemical Society.

Abstract:

Losses of charge carriers, due to the interfacial charge recombination processes, in small molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) have been investigated under operating conditions. The devices consist of zinc phthalocyanine (ZnPc) as electron donor material and C60 as electron acceptor. The results obtained by using time-resolved techniques such as charge extraction (CE) and photoinduced transient photovoltage (TPV) have been compared to the measurements carried out with impedance spectroscopy (IS) and show good agreement. Significantly, much difference is observed in either the charge density distribution versus the device voltage or the charge carriers lifetime when comparing bulk heterojunction versus bilayer-type ZnPc:C 60 devices. The implications of the faster charge carrier recombination with the device fill factor (FF) and the open circuit voltage (V OC) are discussed. © 2012 American Chemical Society.