journal article·2008-06Open access

Electronic structures of interfacial states formed at polymeric semiconductor heterojunctions

Ya-shih Huang, Sebastian Westenhoff, Igor Avilov, Paiboon Sreearunothai, Justin M. Hodgkiss, Caroline Deleener, Richard H. Friend, David Beljonne

Nature Materials· Volume 7· Issue 6

Abstract

Heterojunctions between organic semiconductors are central to the operation of light-emitting and photovoltaic diodes, providing respectively for electron-hole capture and separation. However, relatively little is known about the character of electronic excitations stable at the heterojunction. We have developed molecular models to study such interfacial excited electronic excitations that form at the heterojunction between model polymer donor and polymer acceptor systems: poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-bis-N,N-(4-butylphenyl)-bis-N,N-phenyl-1,4-phenylenediamine) (PFB) with poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-benzothiadiazole) (F8BT), and poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-co-N-(4-butylphenyl)diphenylamine) (TFB) with F8BT. We find that for stable ground-state geometries the excited state has a strong charge-transfer character. Furthermore, when partly covalent, modelled radiative lifetimes (approximately 10(-7) s) and off-chain axis polarization (30 degrees) match observed 'exciplex' emission. Additionally for the PFB:F8BT blend, geometries with fully ionic character are also found, thus accounting for the low electroluminescence efficiency of this system.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Organic Light-Emitting Diodes Research · Luminescence and Fluorescent Materials

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

References (31)

Show source-provided references
1. Morteani, A. C. et al. Barrier-free electron–hole capture in polymer blend heterojunction light-emitting diodes. Adv. Mater. 15, 1708–1712 (2003).10.1002/adma.200305618 ↗
2. Halls, J. J. M. et al. Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks. Nature 376, 498–500 (1995).10.1038/376498a0 ↗
3. Arias, A. C. et al. Photovoltaic performance and morphology of polyfluorene blends: A combined microscopic and photovoltaic investigation. Macromolecules 34, 6005–6013 (2001).10.1021/ma010240e ↗
4. Brabec, C. J., Sariciftci, N. S. & Hummelen, J. C. Plastic solar cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 11, 15–26 (2001).10.1002/1616-3028(200102)11:1<15::AID-ADFM15>3.0.CO;2-A ↗
5. Halls, J. J. M. et al. Charge- and energy-transfer processes at polymer/polymer interfaces: A joint experimental and theoretical study. Phys. Rev. B 60, 5721–5727 (1999).10.1103/PhysRevB.60.5721 ↗
6. Cao, Y., Parker, I. D., Yu, G., Zhang, C. & Heeger, A. J. Improved quantum efficiency for electroluminescence in semiconducting polymers. Nature 397, 414–417 (1999).10.1038/17087 ↗
7. Palilis, L. C. et al. High performance blue light-emitting diodes based on conjugated polymer blends. Synth. Met. 121, 1729–1730 (2001).10.1016/S0379-6779(00)01492-2 ↗
8. McNeill, C. R., Westenhoff, S., Groves, C., Friend, R. H. & Greenham, N. C. Influence of nanoscale phase separation on the charge generation dynamics and photovoltaic performance of conjugated polymer blends: Balancing charge generation and separation. J. Phys. Chem. C 111, 19153–19160 (2007).10.1021/jp075904m ↗
9. Morteani, A. C., Sreearunothai, P., Herz, L. M., Friend, R. H. & Silva, C. Exciton regeneration at polymeric semiconductor heterojunctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 247402 (2004).10.1103/PhysRevLett.92.247402 ↗
10. Morteani, A. C., Friend, R. H. & Silva, C. Endothermic exciplex–exciton energy-transfer in a blue-emitting polymeric heterojunction system. Chem. Phys. Lett. 391, 81–84 (2004).10.1016/j.cplett.2004.05.006 ↗
11. Sreearunothai, P. et al. Influence of copolymer interface orientation on the optical emission of polymeric semiconductor heterojunctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 117403 (2006).10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.117403 ↗
12. Bittner, E. R., Ramon, J. G. S. & Karabunarliev, S. Exciton dissociation dynamics in model donor–acceptor polymer heterojunctions. I. Energetics and spectra. J. Chem. Phys. 122, 214719 (2005).10.1063/1.1924540 ↗
13. Ramon, J. G. S. & Bittner, E. R. Excited state calculations on fluorene-based polymer blends: Effect of stacking orientation and solvation. J. Chem. Phys. 126, 181101 (2007).10.1063/1.2732341 ↗
14. Jenekhe, S. A. & Osaheni, J. A. Excimers and exciplexes of conjugated polymers. Science 265, 765–768 (1994).10.1126/science.265.5173.765 ↗
15. Granlund, T., Pettersson, L. A. A., Anderson, M. R. & Inganäs, O. Interference phenomenon determines the color in an organic light emitting diode. J. Appl. Phys. 81, 8097–8104 (1997).10.1063/1.365418 ↗
16. Gebler, D. D., Wang, Y. Z., Fu, D.-K., Swager, T. M. & Epstein, A. J. Exciplex emission from bilayers of poly(vinyl carbazole) and pyridine based conjugated copolymers. J. Chem. Phys. 108, 7842–7848 (1998).10.1063/1.476221 ↗
17. Offermans, T., van Hal, P. A., Meskers, S. C. J., Koetse, M. M. & Janssen, R. A. J. Exciplex dynamics in a blend of π-conjugated polymers with electron donating and accepting properties: MDMO-PPV and PCNEPV. Phys. Rev. B 72, 045213 (2005).10.1103/PhysRevB.72.045213 ↗
18. Weller, A. The Exciplex 23–38 (Academic, New York, 1975).10.1016/B978-0-12-290650-3.50008-7 ↗
19. Xia, Y. & Friend, R. H. Controlled phase separation of polyfluorene blends via inkjet printing. Macromolecules 38, 6466–6471 (2005).10.1021/ma0503413 ↗
20. Gould, I. R., Young, R. H., Mueller, L. J., Albrecht, A. C. & Farid, S. Electronic structure of exciplexes and excited charge-transfer complexes. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 116, 8188–8199 (1994).10.1021/ja00097a028 ↗
21. Valeur, B. Molecular Fluorescence Ch. 5 (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Weinheim, 2002).
22. Mihailetchi, V. D., Koster, L. J. A., Hummelen, J. C. & Blom, P. W. M. Photocurrent generation in polymer–fullerene bulk heterojunctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 216601 (2004).10.1103/PhysRevLett.93.216601 ↗
23. Becke, A. D. Density-functional thermochemistry. III. The role of exact exchange. J. Chem. Phys. 98, 5648–5652 (1993).10.1063/1.464913 ↗
24. Lee, C., Yang, W. & Parr, R. G. Development of the Colle–Salvetti correlation-energy formula into a functional of the electron density. Phys. Rev. B 37, 785–789 (1988).10.1103/PhysRevB.37.785 ↗
25. Cornil, J. et al. Electronic and optical properties of polyfluorene and fluorene-based copolymers: A quantum-chemical characterization. J. Chem. Phys. 118, 6615–6623 (2003).10.1063/1.1561054 ↗
26. Accelrys, Inc. Cerius2 and Discover (programs) and Discover User Guide (Molecular Simulations, Inc., San Diego, 1996).
27. Ridley, J. & Zerner, M. C. An intermediate neglect of differential overlap technique for spectroscopy: Pyrrole and the azines. Theor. Chim. Acta 32, 111–134 (1973).10.1007/BF00528484 ↗
28. Mataga, N. & Nishimoto, K. Electronic structure and spectra of nitrogen heterocycles. Z. Phys. Chem. Neue. Folge. 13, 140–157 (1957).10.1524/zpch.1957.13.3_4.140 ↗
29. Chandross, M. & Mazumdar, S. Coulomb interactions and linear, nonlinear, and triplet absorption in poly(para-phenylenevinylene). Phys. Rev. B 55, 1497–1504 (1997).10.1103/PhysRevB.55.1497 ↗
30. Westenhoff, S. et al. Supramolecular electronic coupling in chiral oligothiophene nanostructures. Adv. Mater. 18, 1281–1285 (2006).10.1002/adma.200502134 ↗
31. Silva, C. et al. Exciton and polaron dynamics in a step-ladder polymeric semiconductor: The influence of interchain order. J. Phys. Condens. Matter 14, 9803–9824 (2002).10.1088/0953-8984/14/42/302 ↗