Direct observation of ultrafast exciton localization in an organic semiconductor with soft X-ray transient absorption spectroscopy
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Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The localization dynamics of excitons in organic semiconductors influence the efficiency of charge transfer and separation in these materials. Here we apply time-resolved X-ray absorption spectroscopy to track photoinduced dynamics of a paradigmatic crystalline conjugated polymer: poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) commonly used in solar cell devices. The π→π* transition, the first step of solar energy conversion, is pumped with a 15 fs optical pulse and the dynamics are probed by an attosecond soft X-ray pulse at the carbon K-edge. We observe X-ray spectroscopic signatures of the initially hot excitonic state, indicating that it is delocalized over multiple polymer chains. This undergoes a rapid evolution on a sub 50 fs timescale which can be directly associated with cooling and localization to form either a localized exciton or polaron pair.
Date Issued
2022-06-14
Date Acceptance
2022-05-24
Citation
Nature Communications, 2022, 13
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Research
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
13
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2022. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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Sponsor
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (E
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
Engineering & Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC)
The Royal Society
Grant Number
EP/R019509/1
EP/R019509/1
EP/T006943/1
EP/V026690/1
EP/N018680/1
EP/I032517/1
UF130178
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 3414