Xiankai Chen

Quantitative relations between interaction parameter, miscibility and function in organic solar cells

Although it is known that molecular interactions govern morphology formation and purity of mixed domains of conjugated polymer donors and small-molecule acceptors, and thus largely control the achievable performance of organic solar cells, quantifying interaction–function relations has remained elusive. Here, we first determine the temperature-dependent effective amorphous–amorphous interaction parameter, χaa(T), by mapping out the phase diagram of a model amorphous polymer:fullerene material system. We then establish a quantitative ‘constant-kink-saturation’ relation between χaa and the fill factor in organic solar cells that is verified in detail in a model system and delineated across numerous high- and low-performing materials systems, including fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. Our experimental and computational data reveal that a high fill factor is obtained only when χaa is large enough to lead to strong phase separation. Our work outlines a basis for using various miscibility tests and future simulation methods that will significantly reduce or eliminate trial-and-error approaches to material synthesis and device fabrication of functional semiconducting blends and organic blends in general.This work reports a quantitative investigation of the interaction parameter and miscibility of donor and acceptor organic molecules and their relationship with the fill factor and photovoltaic performance of bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells.

Impact of Dielectric Constant on the Singlet–Triplet Gap in Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence Materials

Thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) relies on the presence of a very small energy gap, ΔEST, between the lowest singlet and triplet excited states. ΔEST is thus a key factor in the molecular design of more efficient materials. However, its accurate theoretical estimation remains challenging, especially in the solid state due to the influence of polarization effects. We have quantitatively studied ΔEST as a function of dielectric constant, ε, for four representative organic molecules using the methodology we recently proposed at the Tamm-Dancoff approximation ωB97X level of theory, where the range-separation parameter ω is optimized with the polarizable continuum model. The results are found to be in very good agreement with experimental data. Importantly, the polarization effects can lead to a marked reduction in the ΔEST value, which is favorable for TADF applications. This ΔEST decrease in the solid state is related to the hybrid characters of the lowest singlet and triplet excited states, whose dominant contribution switches to charge-transfer-like with increasing ε. The present work provides a theoretical understanding on the influence of polarization effect on the singlet-triplet gap and confirms our methodology to be a reliable tool for the prediction and development of novel TADF materials.

Topological Transformation Reduces Resistance to Crystallization

Two electronically delocalized molecules were designed as models to understand how molecular shape impacts the tradeoff between solubility and crystallization tendencies in molecular semiconductors. The more soluble compound TT contains a non-planar bithiophene central fragment, whereas CT has a planar cyclopentadithiophene unit. Calorimetry studies show that CT can crystallize more easily than TT. However, absorption spectroscopy shows that the initially amorphous TT film can eventually form crystals in which the molecular shape is significantly more planar. Two thermally reversible polymorphs for TT were observed by XRD and grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) measurements. These findings are relevant within the context of designing soft semiconductors that exhibit high solubility and a tendency to provide stable organized structures with desirable electronic properties.

Thermally Activated Delayed Fluorescence (TADF) Path toward Efficient Electroluminescence in Purely Organic Materials: Molecular Level Insight

Since the seminal work of Tang and Vanslyke in 1987 on small-molecule emitters and that of Friend and co-workers in 1990 on conjugated-polymer emitters, organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) have attracted much attention from academia as well as industry, as the OLED market is estimated to reach the

Effect of Molecular Packing and Charge Delocalization on the Nonradiative Recombination of Charge-Transfer States in Organic Solar Cells

30 billion mark by the end of 2018. In these first-generation organic emitters, on the basis of simple spin statistics, electrical excitation resulted in the formation of ∼25% singlet excitons and ∼75% triplet excitons. Radiative decay of the singlet excitons to the singlet ground state leads to a prompt fluorescence emission, while the triplet excitons only lead to weak phosphorescence due to the very small spin-orbit couplings present in purely organic molecules. The consequence is a ca. 75% energy loss, which triggered wide-ranging efforts to try and harvest as many of the triplet excitons as possible. In 1998, Thompson, Forrest, and their co-workers reported second-generation OLED emitters based on coordination complexes with heavy transition metals (e.g., iridium or platinum). Here, the triplet excitons stimulate efficient and fast phosphorescence due to the strong spin-orbit couplings enabled by the heavy-metal atoms. Internal quantum efficiencies (IQE) up to 100% have been reported, which means that for every electron injected into the device, a photon is emitted. While these second-generation emitters are those mainly exploited in current OLED applications, there is strong impetus from both cost and environmental standpoints to find new ways of exploiting purely organic emitters, which in addition can offer greater flexibility to fine-tune the electronic and optical properties by exploiting the synthetic organic chemistry toolbox. In 2012, Adachi and co-workers introduced a promising strategy, based on thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF), to harvest the triplet excitons in purely organic molecular materials. These materials now represent the third generation of OLED emitters. Impressive photophysical properties and device performances have been reported, with internal quantum efficiencies also reaching nearly 100%. Our objectives in this Account are threefold: (i) to lay out a comprehensive description, at the molecular level, of the fundamental photophysical processes behind TADF emitters; (ii) to discuss some of the challenges facing the design of TADF emitters, such as the need to balance the efficiency of thermal activation of triplet excitons into the singlet manifold with the efficiency of radiative transition to the ground state; and (iii) to highlight briefly some of the recent molecular-design strategies that pave the way to new classes of TADF materials.