@phdthesis{PerdigonToro2022,
  author    = {Perdig{\´o}n-Toro, Lorena},
  title     = {On the Generation and Fate of Free Carriers in Non-Fullerene Acceptor Organic Solar Cells},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-55807},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-558072},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {ix, 191},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Organic solar cells offer an efficient and cost-effective alternative for solar energy harvesting. This type of photovoltaic cell typically consists of a blend of two organic semiconductors, an electron donating polymer and a low molecular weight electron acceptor to create what is known as a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphology. Traditionally, fullerene-based acceptors have been used for this purpose. In recent years, the development of new acceptor molecules, so-called non-fullerene acceptors (NFA), has breathed new life into organic solar cell research, enabling record efficiencies close to 19\%. Today, NFA-based solar cells are approaching their inorganic competitors in terms of photocurrent generation, but lag in terms of open circuit voltage (V_OC). Interestingly, the V_OC of these cells benefits from small offsets of orbital energies at the donor-NFA interface, although previous knowledge considered large energy offsets to be critical for efficient charge carrier generation. In addition, there are several other electronic and structural features that distinguish NFAs from fullerenes. My thesis focuses on understanding the interplay between the unique attributes of NFAs and the physical processes occurring in solar cells. By combining various experimental techniques with drift-diffusion simulations, the generation of free charge carriers as well as their recombination in state-of-the-art NFA-based solar cells is characterized. For this purpose, solar cells based on the donor polymer PM6 and the NFA Y6 have been investigated. The generation of free charge carriers in PM6:Y6 is efficient and independent of electric field and excitation energy. Temperature-dependent measurements show a very low activation energy for photocurrent generation (about 6 meV), indicating barrierless charge carrier separation. Theoretical modeling suggests that Y6 molecules have large quadrupole moments, leading to band bending at the donor-acceptor interface and thereby reducing the electrostatic Coulomb dissociation barrier. In this regard, this work identifies poor extraction of free charges in competition with nongeminate recombination as a dominant loss process in PM6:Y6 devices. Subsequently, the spectral characteristics of PM6:Y6 solar cells were investigated with respect to the dominant process of charge carrier recombination. It was found that the photon emission under open-circuit conditions can be almost entirely attributed to the occupation and recombination of Y6 singlet excitons. Nevertheless, the recombination pathway via the singlet state contributes only 1\% to the total recombination, which is dominated by the charge transfer state (CT-state) at the donor-acceptor interface. Further V_OC gains can therefore only be expected if the density and/or recombination rate of these CT-states can be significantly reduced. Finally, the role of energetic disorder in NFA solar cells is investigated by comparing Y6 with a structurally related derivative, named N4. Layer morphology studies combined with temperature-dependent charge transport experiments show significantly lower structural and energetic disorder in the case of the PM6:Y6 blend. For both PM6:Y6 and PM6:N4, disorder determines the maximum achievable V_OC, with PM6:Y6 benefiting from improved morphological order. Overall, the obtained findings point to avenues for the realization of NFA-based solar cells with even smaller V_OC losses. Further reduction of nongeminate recombination and energetic disorder should result in organic solar cells with efficiencies above 20\% in the future.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Arvind2021,
  author    = {Arvind, Malavika},
  title     = {Regarding the role of aggregation and structural order on the mechanism of molecular doping of semiconducting polymers},
  doi       = {10.25932/publishup-50060},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-500606},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  pages     = {vii, 153},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Polymeric semiconductors are strong contenders for replacing traditional inorganic semiconductors in electronic applications requiring low power, low cost and flexibility, such as biosensors, flexible solar cells and electronic displays. Molecular doping has the potential to enable this revolution by improving the conductivity and charge transport properties of this class of materials. Despite decades of research in this field, gaps in our understanding of the nature of dopant-polymer interactions has resulted in limited commercialization of this technology. This work aims at providing a deeper insight into the underlying mechanisms of molecular p-doping of semiconducting polymers in the solution and solid-state, and thereby bring the scientific community closer to realizing the dream of making organic semiconductors commonplace in the electronics industry. The role of 1) dopant size/shape, 2) polymer chain aggregation and 3) charge delocalization on the doping mechanism and efficiency is addressed using optical (UV-Vis-NIR) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopies. By conducting a comprehensive study of the nature and concentration of the doping-induced species in solutions of the polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with 3 different dopants, we identify the unique optical signatures of the delocalized polaron, localized polaron and charge-transfer complex, and report their extinction coefficient values. Furthermore, with X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy and electrical conductivity measurements, we study the impact of processing technique and doping mechanism on the morphology and thereby, charge transport through the doped films. This work demonstrates that the doping mechanism and type of doping-induced species formed are strongly influenced by the polymer backbone arrangement rather than dopant shape/size. The ability of the polymer chain to aggregate is found to be crucial for efficient charge transfer (ionization) and polaron delocalization. At the same time, our results suggest that the high ionization efficiency of a dopant-polymer system in solution may subsequently hinder efficient charge transport in the solid-state due to the reduction in the fraction of tie chains, which enable charges to move efficiently between aggregated domains in the films. This study demonstrates the complex multifaceted nature of polymer doping while providing important hints for the future design of dopant-host systems and film fabrication techniques.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{PingelArvindKoellnetal.2016,
  author    = {Pingel, Patrick and Arvind, Malavika and K{\"o}lln, Lisa and Steyrleuthner, Robert and Kraffert, Felix and Behrends, Jan and Janietz, Silvia and Neher, Dieter},
  title     = {p-Type Doping of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) with the Strong Lewis Acid Tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane},
  series = {Advanced electronic materials},
  volume    = {2},
  journal   = {Advanced electronic materials},
  publisher = {Wiley-Blackwell},
  address   = {Hoboken},
  issn      = {2199-160X},
  doi       = {10.1002/aelm.201600204},
  pages     = {7},
  year      = {2016},
  abstract  = {State-of-the-art p-type doping of organic semiconductors is usually achieved by employing strong -electron acceptors, a prominent example being tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F(4)TCNQ). Here, doping of the semiconducting model polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, using the strong Lewis acid tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (BCF) as a dopant, is investigated by admittance, conductivity, and electron paramagnetic resonance measurements. The electrical characteristics of BCF- and F(4)TCNQ-doped P3HT layers are shown to be very similar in terms of the mobile hole density and the doping efficiency. Roughly 18\% of the employed dopants create mobile holes in either F-4 TCNQ- or BCF-doped P3HT, while the majority of doping-induced holes remain strongly Coulomb-bound to the dopant anions. Despite similar hole densities, conductivity and hole mobility are higher in BCF-doped P3HT layers than in F(4)TCNQ-doped samples. This and the good solubility in many organic solvents render BCF very useful for p-type doping of organic semiconductors.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{FoertigKniepertGlueckeretal.2014,
  author    = {Foertig, Alexander and Kniepert, Juliane and Gluecker, Markus and Brenner, Thomas J. K. and Dyakonov, Vladimir and Neher, Dieter and Deibel, Carsten},
  title     = {Nongeminate and geminate recombination in PTB7: PCBM solar cells},
  series = {Advanced functional materials},
  volume    = {24},
  journal   = {Advanced functional materials},
  number    = {9},
  publisher = {Wiley-VCH},
  address   = {Weinheim},
  issn      = {1616-301X},
  doi       = {10.1002/adfm.201302134},
  pages     = {1306 -- 1311},
  year      = {2014},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{SchubertDolfenFrischetal.2012,
  author    = {Schubert, Marcel and Dolfen, Daniel and Frisch, Johannes and Roland, Steffen and Steyrleuthner, Robert and Stiller, Burkhard and Chen, Zhihua and Scherf, Ullrich and Koch, Norbert and Facchetti, Antonio and Neher, Dieter},
  title     = {Influence of aggregation on the performance of All-Polymer Solar Cells containing Low-Bandgap Naphthalenediimide Copolymers},
  series = {dvanced energy materials},
  volume    = {2},
  journal   = {dvanced energy materials},
  number    = {3},
  publisher = {Wiley-VCH},
  address   = {Weinheim},
  issn      = {1614-6832},
  doi       = {10.1002/aenm.201100601},
  pages     = {369 -- 380},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {The authors present efficient all-polymer solar cells comprising two different low-bandgap naphthalenediimide (NDI)-based copolymers as acceptors and regioregular P3HT as the donor. It is shown that these naphthalene copolymers have a strong tendency to preaggregate in specific organic solvents, and that preaggregation can be completely suppressed when using suitable solvents with large and highly polarizable aromatic cores. Organic solar cells prepared from such nonaggregated polymer solutions show dramatically increased power conversion efficiencies of up to 1.4\%, which is mainly due to a large increase of the short circuit current. In addition, optimized solar cells show remarkable high fill factors of up to 70\%. The analysis of the blend absorbance spectra reveals a surprising anticorrelation between the degree of polymer aggregation in the solid P3HT:NDI copolymer blends and their photovoltaic performance. Scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) measurements reveal important information on the blend morphology. It is shown that films with high degree of aggregation and low photocurrents exhibit large-scale phase-separation into rather pure donor and acceptor domains. It is proposed that, by suppressing the aggregation of NDI copolymers at the early stage of film formation, the intermixing of the donor and acceptor component is improved, thereby allowing efficient harvesting of photogenerated excitons at the donoracceptor heterojunction.},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Bilkay2012,
  author    = {Bilkay, Taybet},
  title     = {Thiophen und Benzodithiophen basierte organische Halbleiter f{\"u}r aus L{\"o}sung prozessierbare Feldeffekttransistoren},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus-66164},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t Potsdam},
  year      = {2012},
  abstract  = {Diese Arbeit befasst sich mit der Synthese und Charakterisierung von organol{\"o}slichen Thiophen und Benzodithiophen basierten Materialien und ihrer Anwendung als aktive lochleitende Halbleiterschichten in Feldeffekttransistoren. Im ersten Teil der Arbeit wird durch eine gezielte Modifikation des Thiophengrundger{\"u}stes eine neue Comonomer-Einheit f{\"u}r die Synthese von Thiophen basierten Copolymeren erfolgreich dargestellt. Die hydrophoben Hexylgruppen in der 3-Position des Thiophens werden teilweise durch hydrophile 3,6-Dioxaheptylgruppen ersetzt. {\"U}ber die Grignard-Metathese nach McCullough werden statistische Copolymere mit unterschiedlichen molaren Anteilen vom hydrophoben Hexyl- und hydrophilem 3,6-Dioxaheptylgruppen 1:1 (P-1), 1:2 (P-2) und 2:1 (P-3) erfolgreich hergestellt. Auch die Synthese eines definierten Blockcopolymers BP-1 durch sequentielle Addition der Comonomere wird realisiert. Optische und elektrochemische Eigenschaften der neuartigen Copolymere sind vergleichbar mit P3HT. Mit allen Copolymeren wird ein charakteristisches Transistorverhalten in einem Top-Gate/Bottom-Kontakt-Aufbau erhalten. Dabei werden mit P-1 als die aktive Halbleiterschicht im Bauteil, PMMA als Dielektrikum und Silber als Gate-Elektrode Mobilit{\"a}ten von bis zu 10-2 cm2/Vs erzielt. Als Folge der optimierten Grenzfl{\"a}che zwischen Dielektrikum und Halbleiter wird eine Verbesserung der Luftstabilit{\"a}t der Transistoren {\"u}ber mehrere Monate festgestellt. Im zweiten Teil der Arbeit werden Benzodithiophen basierte organische Materialien hergestellt. F{\"u}r die Synthese der neuartigen Benzodithiophen-Derivate wird die Schl{\"u}sselverbindung TIPS-BDT in guter Ausbeute dargestellt. Die Difunktionalisierung von TIPS-BDT in den 2,6-Positionen {\"u}ber eine elektrophile Substitution liefert die gew{\"u}nschten Dibrom- und Distannylmonomere. Zun{\"a}chst werden {\"u}ber die Stille-Reaktion alternierende Copolymere mit alkylierten Fluoren- und Chinoxalin-Einheiten realisiert. Alle Copolymere zeichnen sich durch eine gute L{\"o}slichkeit in g{\"a}ngigen organischen L{\"o}sungsmitteln, hohe thermische Stabilit{\"a}t und durch gute Filmbildungseigenschaften aus. Des Weiteren sind alle Copolymere mit HOMO Lagen h{\"o}her als -6.3 eV, verglichen mit den Thiophen basierten Copolymeren (P-1 bis P-3), sehr oxidationsstabil. Diese Copolymere zeigen amorphes Verhalten in den Halbleiterschichten in OFETs auf und es werden Mobilit{\"a}ten bis zu 10-4 cm2/Vs erreicht. Eine Abh{\"a}ngigkeit der Bauteil-Leistung von dem Zinngehalt-Rest im Polymer wird nachgewiesen. Ein Zinngehalt von {\"u}ber 0.6 \% kann enormen Einfluss auf die Mobilit{\"a}t aus{\"u}ben, da die funktionellen SnMe3-Gruppen als Fallenzust{\"a}nde wirken k{\"o}nnen. Alternativ wird das alternierende TIPS-BDT/Fluoren-Copolymer P-5-Stille nach der Suzuki-Methode polymerisiert. Mit P-5-Suzuki als die aktive organische Halbleiterschicht im OFET wird die h{\"o}chste Mobilit{\"a}t von 10-2 cm2/Vs erzielt. Diese Mobilit{\"a}t ist somit um zwei Gr{\"o}ßenordnungen h{\"o}her als bei P-5-Stille, da die Fallenzust{\"a}nde in diesem Fall minimiert werden und folglich der Ladungstransport verbessert wird. Sowohl das Homopolymer P-12 als auch das Copolymer mit dem aromatischen Akzeptor Benzothiadiazol P-9 f{\"u}hren zu schwerl{\"o}slichen Polymeren. Aus diesem Grund werden einerseits Terpolymere aus TIPS-BDT/Fluoren/BTD-Einheiten P-10 und P-11 aufgebaut und andererseits wird versucht die TIPS-BDT-Einheit in die Seitenkette des Styrols einzubringen. Mit der Einf{\"u}hrung von BTD in die Hauptpolymerkette werden insbesondere die Absorptions- und die elektrochemischen Eigenschaften beeinflusst. Im Vergleich zu dem TIPS-BDT/Fluoren-Copolymer reicht die Absorption bis in den sichtbaren Bereich und die LUMO Lage wird zu niederen Werten verschoben. Eine Verbesserung der Leistung in den Bauteilen wird jedoch nicht festgestellt. Die erfolgreiche erstmalige Synthese von TIPS-BDT als Seitenkettenpolymer an Styrol P-13 f{\"u}hrt zu einem l{\"o}slichen und amorphen Polymer mit vergleichbaren Mobilit{\"a}ten von Styrol basierten Polymeren (µ = 10-5 cm2/Vs) im OFET. Ein weiteres Ziel dieser Arbeit ist die Synthese von niedermolekularen organol{\"o}slichen Benzodithiophen-Derivaten. {\"U}ber Suzuki- und Stille-Reaktionen ist es erstmals m{\"o}glich, verschiedenartige Aromaten {\"u}ber eine σ-Bindung an TIPS-BDT in den 2,6-Positionen zu kn{\"u}pfen. Die UV/VIS-Untersuchungen zeigen, dass die Absorption durch die Verl{\"a}ngerung der π-Konjugationsl{\"a}nge zu h{\"o}heren Wellenl{\"a}ngen verschoben wird. Dar{\"u}ber hinaus ist es m{\"o}glich, thermisch vernetzbare Gruppen wie Allyloxy in das Molek{\"u}lger{\"u}st einzubauen. Das Einf{\"u}hren von F-Atomen in das Molek{\"u}lger{\"u}st resultiert in einer verst{\"a}rkten Packungsordnung im Fluorbenzen funktionalisiertem TIPS-BDT (SM-4) im Festk{\"o}rper mit sehr guten elektronischen Eigenschaften im OFET, wobei Mobilit{\"a}ten bis zu 0.09 cm2/Vs erreicht werden.},
  language  = {de}
}