The fate of electron–hole pairs in polymer:fullerene blends for organic photovoltaics
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Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
There has been long-standing debate on how free charges are generated in donor:acceptor blends that are used in organic solar cells, and which are generally comprised of a complex phase morphology, where intermixed and neat phases of the donor and acceptor material co-exist. Here we resolve this question, basing our conclusions on Stark effect spectroscopy data obtained in the absence and presence of externally applied electric fields. Reconciling opposing views found in literature, we unambiguously demonstrate that the fate of photogenerated electron–hole pairs—whether they will dissociate to free charges or geminately recombine—is determined at ultrafast times, despite the fact that their actual spatial separation can be much slower. Our insights are important to further develop rational approaches towards material design and processing of organic solar cells, assisting to realize their purported promise as lead-free, third-generation energy technology that can reach efficiencies over 10%.
Date Issued
2016-09-02
Online Publication Date
2016-09-02
2016-09-05T13:21:39Z
Date Acceptance
2016-07-14
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
7
Copyright Statement
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Source Database
manual-entry
Subjects
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
12556