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Π-conjugated polymers (π-CPs) blended with ionic liquids (ILs) have shown great potential for noninvasive diagnostics by transducing dielectric environmental changes induced by volatile organic com...

Electric-field driven chemical doping modulation in a blend of solution-processed organic semiconductors (OSCs) and solid-state ionic liquids (SSILs) in response to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) provides a new exciting opportunity to facilitate printable and low-power chemical gas sensors (chemiresistors). In order to fully exploit this opportunity, a fundamental understanding of the molecular-level interactions among the OSCs, SSILs, and VOC components during the device operation is urgently needed. Herein, we demonstrate a highly sensitive and selective VOC gas sensor using π-conjugated polymer (here, P3HT as a model homopolymer) and SSIL blends. A newly developed SSIL forms a semi-crystalline solid at room temperature. P3HT with high molecular weight and regioregularity allows an extremely well-interconnected network in blends desirable for efficient charge transport. In P3HT:SSIL blends, we identify electric-field driven strong chemical interactions between π-CP and SSIL to tune the electrical conductivity of the π-CP. The enlarged interfacial areas in blends and the solid-state nature of the SSIL ensure highly tunable electrochemical interactions between them, efficiently modulating the electrical conductivity of the π-CP further upon exposure to different polar and non-polar VOCs. Our results demonstrate the π-conjugated polymer/SSIL complex as a new highly sensitive and selective gas sensor and provide a key scientific understanding of its molecular-level operational mechanism critical for developing molecular sensors towards next generation noninvasive diagnostics.

Printable organic sensors fabricated from solution-processed π-conjugated polymers (π-CPs) are promising candidates to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) due to the intriguing physical, chemical and electronic properties of π-CPs. These devices, often termed organic chemiresistors, require good sensing capabilities to transduce stimuli from specific VOCs at low concentrations into analytical electric signals. However, discriminating such VOCs using organic chemiresistors has proven very challenging. Herein, we report that the molecular-level electrochemical doping of π-CPs with solid-state ionic liquids (SILs) significantly improves their electrical conductivity (∼10−1 S cm−1) and selective VOC interactions, which can be manipulated through different π-CPs:SIL blend ratios. These characteristics enable the fine discrimination of VOCs at concentrations in the parts-per-billion (ppb) range under low power consumption (

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) are close to reaching a landmark 20% device efficiency. One of the proposed reasons that OPVs have yet to attain this milestone is their propensity toward triplet formation. Herein, a small molecule donor, DRCN5T, is studied using a variety of morphology and spectroscopy techniques, and blended with both fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. Specifically, grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering and transient absorption, Raman, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopies are focused on. It is shown that despite DRCN5T's ability to achieve OPV efficiencies of over 10%, it generates an unusually high population of triplets. These triplets are primarily formed in amorphous regions via back recombination from a charge transfer state, and also undergo triplet-charge annihilation. As such, triplets have a dual role in DRCN5T device efficiency suppression: they both hinder free charge carrier formation and annihilate those free charges that do form. Using microsecond transient absorption spectroscopy under oxygen conditions, this triplet-charge annihilation (TCA) is directly observed as a general phenomenon in a variety of DRCN5T: fullerene and non-fullerene blends. Since TCA is usually inferred rather than directly observed, it is demonstrated that this technique is a reliable method to establish the presence of TCA.

A bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) structure of organic semiconductor blend is widely used in photon-to-electron converting devices such as organic photodetectors (OPD) and photovoltaics (OPV). However, the impact of the molecular structure on the interfacial electronic states and optoelectronic properties of the constituent organic semiconductors is still unclear, limiting further development of these devices for commercialization. Herein, the critical role of donor molecular structure on OPD performance is identified in highly intermixed BHJ blends containing a small-molecule donor and C60 acceptor. Blending introduces a twisted structure in the donor molecule and a strong coupling between donor and acceptor molecules. This results in ultrafast exciton separation (

Increasing the open circuit voltage (Voc) is one of the key strategies for further improvement of the efficiency of perovskite solar cells. It requires fundamental understanding of the complex optoelectronic processes related to charge carrier generation, transport, extraction and their loss mechanisms inside a device upon illumination. Herein we report the important origin of Voc losses in methylammonium lead iodide perovskite (MAPI) based solar cells, which results from undesirable positive charge (hole) accumulation at the interface between the perovskite photoactive layer and the PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer. We show strong correlation between the thickness-dependent surface photovoltage and device performance, unraveling that the interfacial charge accumulation leads to charge carrier recombination and results in a large decrease in Voc for the PEDOT:PSS/MAPI inverted devices (180 mV reduction in 50-nm-thick device compared to 230-nm-thick one). In contrast, accumulated positive charges at the TiO2/MAPI interface modify interfacial energy band bending, which leads to an increase in Voc for the TiO2/MAPI conventional devices (70 mV increase in 50-nm-thick device compared to 230-nm-thick one). Our results provide an important guideline for better control of interfaces in perovskite solar cells to improve device performance further.

Charge carrier injection and transport in polymer light‐emitting diodes (PLEDs) is strongly limited by the energy level offset at organic/(in)organic interfaces and the mismatch in electron and hole mobilities. Herein, these limitations are overcome via electrochemical doping of a light‐emitting polymer. Less than 1 wt% of doping agent is enough to effectively tune charge injection and balance and hence significantly improve PLED performance. For thick single‐layer (1.2 µm) PLEDs, dramatic reductions in current and luminance turn‐on voltages (VJ = 11.6 V from 20.0 V and VL = 12.7 V from 19.8 V with/without doping) accompanied by reduced efficiency roll‐off are observed. For thinner (

Nanoscale morphology is critical to determining the device efficiency of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, and the ideal structure is often described as a three-phase network with one well-mixed phase for efficient charge separation and two purer phases for efficient charge transport. In order to understand such nanoscale morphology, we have performed detailed spectroscopic investigations and identified the three-phase morphology evolution in one of the classic blend systems, P3HT:PCBM. The impact of different phases on polymer molecular (chain conformational) order and blend thermal and optical properties were monitored in situ using resonant Raman, absorption, and photoluminescence spectroscopy techniques. Semicrystalline P3HT was found to accommodate up to ∼25% PCBM (by weight) in its amorphous phase, with very little impact on either polymer molecular order or aggregation. Higher concentrations of PCBM resulted in a greater proportion of amorphous mixed phase and reduced polymer molecular order and aggregation. On the other hand, the formation of crystalline purer phases via phase separation was evident during in situ thermal annealing, revealing a consistent glass transition temperature (Tg) of ∼50 °C in blends with up to 50% wt PCBM. This indicates similar local chemical compositions in the amorphous mixed phase present in blends despite different overall blend ratios. A much higher Tg (80–100 °C) was observed for blends with >50% wt PCBM, indicating a stronger impact of PCBM on P3HT molecular order and thermal properties, requiring a higher annealing temperature to ensure formation of the preferred three-phase morphology.

A comparison of the efficiency, stability, and photophysics of organic solar cells employing poly[(5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazol-4,7-diyl)-alt-(3,3'″-di(2-octyldodecyl)-2,2';5',2″;5″,2'″-quaterthiophen-5,5'″-diyl)] (PffBT4T-2OD) as a donor polymer blended with either the nonfullerene acceptor EH-IDTBR or the fullerene derivative, [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71 BM) as electron acceptors is reported. Inverted PffBT4T-2OD:EH-IDTBR blend solar cell fabricated without any processing additive achieves power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 9.5 ± 0.2%. The devices exhibit a high open circuit voltage of 1.08 ± 0.01 V, attributed to the high lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) level of EH-IDTBR. Photoluminescence quenching and transient absorption data are employed to elucidate the ultrafast kinetics and efficiencies of charge separation in both blends, with PffBT4T-2OD exciton diffusion kinetics within polymer domains, and geminate recombination losses following exciton separation being identified as key factors determining the efficiency of photocurrent generation. Remarkably, while encapsulated PffBT4T-2OD:PC71 BM solar cells show significant efficiency loss under simulated solar irradiation ("burn in" degradation) due to the trap-assisted recombination through increased photoinduced trap states, PffBT4T-2OD:EH-IDTBR solar cell shows negligible burn in efficiency loss. Furthermore, PffBT4T-2OD:EH-IDTBR solar cells are found to be substantially more stable under 85 °C thermal stress than PffBT4T-2OD:PC71 BM devices.

Controlling initial bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) morphology is critical for device performance of organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells. However, its impact on performance, specifically long-term operational stability is still poorly understood. This is mainly due to limitations in direct measurements enabling in-situ monitoring of devices at a molecular level. Here, we utilize thermal annealing preconditioning step to tune initial morphology of model polymer:fullerene BHJ OPV devices and molecular resonant vibrational spectroscopy to identify in-situ degradation pathways. We report direct spectroscopic evidence for molecular-scale phase segregation temperature (TPS) which critically determines a boundary in high efficiency and long operational stability. Under operation, initially well-mixed blend morphology (no annealing) shows interface instability related to the hole-extracting PEDOT:PSS layer via de-doping. Likewise, initially phase-segregated morphology at a molecular level (annealed above TPS) shows instability in the photoactive layer via continuous phase segregation between polymer and fullerenes in macroscales, coupled with further fullerene photodegradation. Our results confirm that a thermal annealing preconditioning step is essential to stabilize the BHJ morphology; in particular annealing below TPS is critical for improved operational stability whilst maintaining high efficiency.