Open AccessRevelation of Interfacial Energetics in Organic Multiheterojunctions
Author(s) -
Kästner Christian,
Vandewal Koen,
Egbe Daniel Ayuk Mbi,
Hoppe Harald
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.201600331
Subject(s) - materials science , fullerene , ternary operation , polymer , amorphous solid , chemical physics , organic solar cell , heterojunction , acceptor , luminescence , crystallinity , dissociation (chemistry) , chemistry , crystallography , organic chemistry , optoelectronics , composite material , condensed matter physics , physics , computer science , programming language
Efficient charge generation via exciton dissociation in organic bulk heterojunctions necessitates donor–acceptor interfaces, e.g., between a conjugated polymer and a fullerene derivative. Furthermore, aggregation and corresponding structural order of polymer and fullerene domains result in energetic relaxations of molecular energy levels toward smaller energy gaps as compared to the situation for amorphous phases existing in homogeneously intermixed polymer:fullerene blends. Here it is shown that these molecular energy level shifts are reflected in interfacial charge transfer (CT) transitions and depending on the existence of disordered or ordered interfacial domains. It can be done so by systematically controlling the order at the donor–acceptor interface via ternary blending of semicrystalline and amorphous model polymers with a fullerene acceptor. These variations in interfacial domain order are probed with luminescence spectroscopy, yielding various transition energies due to activation of different recombination channels at the interface. Finally, it is shown that via this analysis the energy landscape at the organic heterojunction interface can be obtained.