Uyen Huynh

Theory of Primary Photoexcitations in Donor-Acceptor Copolymers

We present a generic theory of primary photoexcitations in low band gap donor-acceptor conjugated copolymers. Because of the combined effects of strong electron correlations and broken symmetry, there is considerable mixing between a charge-transfer exciton and an energetically proximate triplet-triplet state with an overall spin singlet. The triplet-triplet state, optically forbidden in homopolymers, is allowed in donor-acceptor copolymers. For an intermediate difference in electron affinities of the donor and the acceptor, the triplet-triplet state can have a stronger oscillator strength than the charge-transfer exciton. We discuss the possibility of intramolecular singlet fission from the triplet-triplet state, and how such fission can be detected experimentally.

Optical properties of low bandgap copolymer PTB7 for organic photovoltaic applications

We used both cw and transient spectroscopies for studying the optical properties and photoexcitations in the low bandgap copolymer PTB7 that has been used in organic photovoltaic applications (OPV). Surprisingly we observed two primary photoexcitations that are generated within ~150 fs (our time resolution); we identify them as singlet exciton (S1) and triplet-pair (1TT). The singlet exciton has been considered to be the only primary photoexcitation in regular π-conjugated polymers and is related with a transient absorption band that peaks at an energy value close to the exciton binding energy (~0.4 eV in PTB7). The TT pair is a novel photoexcitation species in low band-gap π-conjugated copolymers. It has an absorption band close to that of isolated triplet exciton, and may readily dissociate at the donoracceptor interfaces in the PTB7/fullerene blend. This finding may explain the underlying mechanism for the high obtained power conversion efficiency in OPV devices based on the PTB7 copolymer.

Photoexcitations dynamics in pristine low bandgap π-conjugated copolymers

Abstract. We present a comprehensive review on the optical properties in pristine low bandgap copolymers, namely PTB7 and PDTP–DFBT, which are used as electron donors in copolymer/phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester blends for high efficiency solar cell devices. The copolymer backbone chain comprises of donor (D) and acceptor (A) moieties, which lower the band gap to the near-IR spectral region. Unlike traditional π-conjugated polymers in which the primary photoexcitations are singlet excitons (SE), in D–A copolymers we find at short times coexistence of two primary photoexcitation species, namely SE and triplet–triplet (TT) pairs, which are directly photogenerated upon photon absorption from the ground state within 300 fs, our transient time resolution. Using the transient magnetophotoinduced absorption (t-MPA) spectroscopy, we reveal the spin coupling between the SE and TT spin states from their correlated t-MPA responses. In addition, we show that the TT species dissociates into two individual triplet excitons (TE) in the picosecond time scale; however, the two-geminate TEs are entangled and maintain their spin coherence into the microsecond time domain.