Free charge photogeneration in a single component high photovoltaic efficiency organic semiconductor

Michael B. Price (), Paul A. Hume (), Aleksandra Ilina, Isabella Wagner, Ronnie R. Tamming, Karen E. Thorn, Wanting Jiao, Alison Goldingay, Patrick J. Conaghan, Girish Lakhwani, Nathaniel J. L. K. Davis, Yifan Wang, Peiyao Xue, Heng Lu, Kai Chen, Xiaowei Zhan and Justin M. Hodgkiss ()
Additional contact information
Michael B. Price: Victoria University of Wellington
Paul A. Hume: Victoria University of Wellington
Aleksandra Ilina: Victoria University of Wellington
Isabella Wagner: Victoria University of Wellington
Ronnie R. Tamming: Victoria University of Wellington
Karen E. Thorn: Victoria University of Wellington
Wanting Jiao: Victoria University of Wellington
Alison Goldingay: University of Sydney
Patrick J. Conaghan: University of Sydney
Girish Lakhwani: University of Sydney
Nathaniel J. L. K. Davis: Victoria University of Wellington
Yifan Wang: Peking University
Peiyao Xue: Peking University
Heng Lu: Peking University
Kai Chen: Victoria University of Wellington
Xiaowei Zhan: Peking University
Justin M. Hodgkiss: Victoria University of Wellington

Nature Communications, 2022, vol. 13, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) promise cheap and flexible solar energy. Whereas light generates free charges in silicon photovoltaics, excitons are normally formed in organic semiconductors due to their low dielectric constants, and require molecular heterojunctions to split into charges. Recent record efficiency OPVs utilise the small molecule, Y6, and its analogues, which – unlike previous organic semiconductors – have low band-gaps and high dielectric constants. We show that, in Y6 films, these factors lead to intrinsic free charge generation without a heterojunction. Intensity-dependent spectroscopy reveals that 60–90% of excitons form free charges at AM1.5 light intensity. Bimolecular recombination, and hole traps constrain single component Y6 photovoltaics to low efficiencies, but recombination is reduced by small quantities of donor. Quantum-chemical calculations reveal strong coupling between exciton and CT states, and an intermolecular polarisation pattern that drives exciton dissociation. Our results challenge how current OPVs operate, and renew the possibility of efficient single-component OPVs.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-30127-8 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:13:y:2022:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-022-30127-8

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30127-8

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().