@article{IlnytskyiSaphiannikovaNeheretal.2012, author = {Ilnytskyi, Jaroslav M. and Saphiannikova, Marina and Neher, Dieter and Allen, Michael P.}, title = {Modelling elasticity and memory effects in liquid crystalline elastomers by molecular dynamics simulations}, series = {Soft matter}, volume = {8}, journal = {Soft matter}, number = {43}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {1744-683X}, doi = {10.1039/c2sm26499d}, pages = {11123 -- 11134}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We performed molecular dynamics simulations of a liquid crystal elastomer of side-chain architecture. The network is formed from a melt of 28 molecules each having a backbone of 100 hydrocarbon monomers, to which 50 side chains are attached in a syndiotactic way. Crosslinking is performed in the smectic A phase. We observe an increase of the smectic-isotropic phase transition temperature of about 5 degrees as compared to the uncrosslinked melt. Memory effects in liquid crystalline order and in sample shape are well reproduced when the elastomer is driven through the smectic-isotropic transition. Above this transition, in the isotropic phase, the polydomain smectic phase is induced by a uniaxial load. Below the transition, in a monodomain smectic A phase, both experimentally observed effects of homogeneous director reorientation and stripe formation are reproduced when the sample is stretched along the director. When the load is applied perpendicularly to the director, the sample demonstrates reversible deformation with no change of liquid crystalline order, indicating elasticity of the two-dimensional network of polymer layers.}, language = {en} } @article{PingelSchwarzlNeher2012, author = {Pingel, P. and Schwarzl, R. and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Effect of molecular p-doping on hole density and mobility in poly(3-hexylthiophene)}, series = {Applied physics letters}, volume = {100}, journal = {Applied physics letters}, number = {14}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville}, issn = {0003-6951}, doi = {10.1063/1.3701729}, pages = {3}, year = {2012}, abstract = {Employing impedance spectroscopy, we have studied the hole density, conductivity, and mobility of poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, doped with the strong molecular acceptor tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane, F(4)TCNQ. We find that the hole density increases linearly with the F(4)TCNQ concentration. Furthermore, the hole mobility is decreased upon doping at low-to-medium doping level, which is rationalized by an analytic model of carrier mobility in doped organic semiconductors [V. I. Arkhipov, E. V. Emelianova, P. Heremans, and H. Bassler, Phys. Rev. B 72, 235202 (2005)]. We infer that the presence of ionized F(4)TCNQ molecules in the P3HT layer increases energetic disorder, which diminishes the carrier mobility.}, language = {en} } @article{NikolisMischokSiegmundetal.2019, author = {Nikolis, Vasileios C. and Mischok, Andreas and Siegmund, Bernhard and Kublitski, Jonas and Jia, Xiangkun and Benduhn, Johannes and H{\"o}rmann, Ulrich and Neher, Dieter and Gather, Malte C. and Spoltore, Donato and Vandewal, Koen}, title = {Strong light-matter coupling for reduced photon energy losses in organic photovoltaics}, series = {Nature Communications}, volume = {10}, journal = {Nature Communications}, publisher = {Nature Publ. Group}, address = {London}, issn = {2041-1723}, doi = {10.1038/s41467-019-11717-5}, pages = {8}, year = {2019}, abstract = {Strong light-matter coupling can re-arrange the exciton energies in organic semiconductors. Here, we exploit strong coupling by embedding a fullerene-free organic solar cell (OSC) photo-active layer into an optical microcavity, leading to the formation of polariton peaks and a red-shift of the optical gap. At the same time, the open-circuit voltage of the device remains unaffected. This leads to reduced photon energy losses for the low-energy polaritons and a steepening of the absorption edge. While strong coupling reduces the optical gap, the energy of the charge-transfer state is not affected for large driving force donor-acceptor systems. Interestingly, this implies that strong coupling can be exploited in OSCs to reduce the driving force for electron transfer, without chemical or microstructural modifications of the photoactive layer. Our work demonstrates that the processes determining voltage losses in OSCs can now be tuned, and reduced to unprecedented values, simply by manipulating the device architecture.}, language = {en} } @article{GarciaBenitoQuartiQuelozetal.2020, author = {Garc{\´i}a-Benito, In{\´e}s and Quarti, Claudio and Queloz, Valentin I. E. and Hofstetter, Yvonne J. and Becker-Koch, David and Caprioglio, Pietro and Neher, Dieter and Orlandi, Simonetta and Cavazzini, Marco and Pozzi, Gianluca and Even, Jacky and Nazeeruddin, Mohammad Khaja and Vaynzof, Yana and Grancini, Giulia}, title = {Fluorination of organic spacer impacts on the structural and optical response of 2D perovskites}, series = {Frontiers in Chemistry}, volume = {7}, journal = {Frontiers in Chemistry}, publisher = {Frontiers Media}, address = {Lausanne}, issn = {2296-2646}, doi = {10.3389/fchem.2019.00946}, pages = {1 -- 11}, year = {2020}, abstract = {Low-dimensional hybrid perovskites have triggered significant research interest due to their intrinsically tunable optoelectronic properties and technologically relevant material stability. In particular, the role of the organic spacer on the inherent structural and optical features in two-dimensional (2D) perovskites is paramount for material optimization. To obtain a deeper understanding of the relationship between spacers and the corresponding 2D perovskite film properties, we explore the influence of the partial substitution of hydrogen atoms by fluorine in an alkylammonium organic cation, resulting in (Lc)(2)PbI4 and (Lf)(2)PbI4 2D perovskites, respectively. Consequently, optical analysis reveals a clear 0.2 eV blue-shift in the excitonic position at room temperature. This result can be mainly attributed to a band gap opening, with negligible effects on the exciton binding energy. According to Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations, the band gap increases due to a larger distortion of the structure that decreases the atomic overlap of the wavefunctions and correspondingly bandwidth of the valence and conduction bands. In addition, fluorination impacts the structural rigidity of the 2D perovskite, resulting in a stable structure at room temperature and the absence of phase transitions at a low temperature, in contrast to the widely reported polymorphism in some non-fluorinated materials that exhibit such a phase transition. This indicates that a small perturbation in the material structure can strongly influence the overall structural stability and related phase transition of 2D perovskites, making them more robust to any phase change. This work provides key information on how the fluorine content in organic spacer influence the structural distortion of 2D perovskites and their optical properties which possess remarkable importance for future optoelectronic applications, for instance in the field of light-emitting devices or sensors.}, language = {en} } @article{KniepertLangevanderKaapetal.2014, author = {Kniepert, Juliane and Lange, Ilja and van der Kaap, Niels J. and Koster, L. Jan Anton and Neher, Dieter}, title = {A conclusive view on charge generation, recombination, and extraction in As-prepared and annealed P3HT:PCBM blends: combined experimental and simulation work}, series = {dvanced energy materials}, volume = {4}, journal = {dvanced energy materials}, number = {7}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1614-6832}, doi = {10.1002/aenm.201301401}, pages = {11}, year = {2014}, abstract = {Time-delayed collection field (TDCF) and bias-amplified charge extraction (BACE) are applied to as-prepared and annealed poly(3-hexylthiophene):[6,6]-phenyl C-71 butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) blends coated from chloroform. Despite large differences in fill factor, short-circuit current, and power conversion efficiency, both blends exhibit a negligible dependence of photogeneration on the electric field and strictly bimolecular recombination (BMR) with a weak dependence of the BMR coefficient on charge density. Drift-diffusion simulations are performed using the measured coefficients and mobilities, taking into account bimolecular recombination and the possible effects of surface recombination. The excellent agreement between the simulation and the experimental data for an intensity range covering two orders of magnitude indicates that a field-independent generation rate and a density-independent recombination coefficient describe the current-voltage characteristics of the annealed P3HT: PCBM devices, while the performance of the as-prepared blend is shown to be limited by space charge effects due to a low hole mobility. Finally, even though the bimolecular recombination coefficient is small, surface recombination is found to be a negligible loss mechanism in these solar cells.}, language = {en} } @article{PoelkingBenduhnSpoltoreetal.2022, author = {Poelking, Carl and Benduhn, Johannes and Spoltore, Donato and Schwarze, Martin and Roland, Steffen and Piersimoni, Fortunato and Neher, Dieter and Leo, Karl and Vandewal, Koen and Andrienko, Denis}, title = {Open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells}, series = {Communications physics}, volume = {5}, journal = {Communications physics}, number = {1}, publisher = {Nature portfolio}, address = {Berlin}, issn = {2399-3650}, doi = {10.1038/s42005-022-01084-x}, pages = {7}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Organic photovoltaics (PV) is an energy-harvesting technology that offers many advantages, such as flexibility, low weight and cost, as well as environmentally benign materials and manufacturing techniques. Despite growth of power conversion efficiencies to around 19 \% in the last years, organic PVs still lag behind inorganic PV technologies, mainly due to high losses in open-circuit voltage. Understanding and improving open circuit voltage in organic solar cells is challenging, as it is controlled by the properties of a donor-acceptor interface where the optical excitations are separated into charge carriers. Here, we provide an electrostatic model of a rough donor-acceptor interface and test it experimentally on small molecule PV materials systems. The model provides concise relationships between the open-circuit voltage, photovoltaic gap, charge-transfer state energy, and interfacial morphology. In particular, we show that the electrostatic bias generated across the interface reduces the photovoltaic gap. This negative influence on open-circuit voltage can, however, be circumvented by adjusting the morphology of the donor-acceptor interface. Organic solar cells, despite their high power conversion efficiencies, suffer from open circuit voltage losses making them less appealing in terms of applications. Here, the authors, supported with experimental data on small molecule photovoltaic cells, relate open circuit voltage to photovoltaic gap, charge-transfer state energy, and donor-acceptor interfacial morphology.}, language = {en} } @article{VollbrechtTokmoldinSunetal.2022, author = {Vollbrecht, Joachim and Tokmoldin, Nurlan and Sun, Bowen and Brus, Viktor V. and Shoaee, Safa and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Determination of the charge carrier density in organic solar cells}, series = {Journal of applied physics}, volume = {131}, journal = {Journal of applied physics}, number = {22}, publisher = {American Institute of Physics}, address = {Melville, NY}, issn = {0021-8979}, doi = {10.1063/5.0094955}, pages = {18}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The increase in the performance of organic solar cells observed over the past few years has reinvigorated the search for a deeper understanding of the loss and extraction processes in this class of device. A detailed knowledge of the density of free charge carriers under different operating conditions and illumination intensities is a prerequisite to quantify the recombination and extraction dynamics. Differential charging techniques are a promising approach to experimentally obtain the charge carrier density under the aforementioned conditions. In particular, the combination of transient photovoltage and photocurrent as well as impedance and capacitance spectroscopy have been successfully used in past studies to determine the charge carrier density of organic solar cells. In this Tutorial, these experimental techniques will be discussed in detail, highlighting fundamental principles, practical considerations, necessary corrections, advantages, drawbacks, and ultimately their limitations. Relevant references introducing more advanced concepts will be provided as well. Therefore, the present Tutorial might act as an introduction and guideline aimed at new prospective users of these techniques as well as a point of reference for more experienced researchers. Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.}, language = {en} } @article{SunSandbergNeheretal.2022, author = {Sun, Bowen and Sandberg, Oskar and Neher, Dieter and Armin, Ardalan and Shoaee, Safa}, title = {Wave optics of differential absorption spectroscopy in thick-junction organic solar cells}, series = {Physical review applied / The American Physical Society}, volume = {17}, journal = {Physical review applied / The American Physical Society}, number = {5}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {2331-7019}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.17.054016}, pages = {12}, year = {2022}, abstract = {Differential absorption spectroscopy techniques serve as powerful techniques to study the excited species in organic solar cells. However, it has always been challenging to employ these techniques for characterizing thick-junction organic solar cells, especially when a reflective top contact is involved. In this work, we present a detailed and systematic study on how a combination of the presence of the interference effect and a nonuniform charge-distribution profile, severely manipulates experimental spectra and the decay dynamics. Furthermore, we provide a practical methodology to correct these optical artifacts in differential absorption spectroscopies. The results and the proposed correction method generally apply to all kinds of differential absorption spectroscopy techniques and various thin-film systems, such as organics, perovskites, kesterites, and two-dimensional materials. Notably, it is found that the shape of differential absorption spectra can be strongly distorted, starting from 150-nm active-layer thickness; this matches the thickness range of thick-junction organic solar cells and most perovskite solar cells and needs to be carefully considered in experiments. In addition, the decay dynamics of differential absorption spectra is found to be disturbed by optical artifacts under certain conditions. With the help of the proposed correction formalism, differential spectra and the decay dynamics can be characterized on the full device of thin-film solar cells in transmission mode and yield accurate and reliable results to provide design rules for further progress.}, language = {en} } @article{FritschKurpiersRolandetal.2022, author = {Fritsch, Tobias and Kurpiers, Jona and Roland, Steffen and Tokmoldin, Nurlan and Shoaee, Safa and Ferron, Thomas and Collins, Brian A. and Janietz, Silvia and Vandewal, Koen and Neher, Dieter}, title = {On the interplay between CT and singlet exciton emission in organic solar cells with small driving force and its impact on voltage loss}, series = {Advanced energy materials}, volume = {12}, journal = {Advanced energy materials}, number = {31}, publisher = {Wiley-VCH}, address = {Weinheim}, issn = {1614-6832}, doi = {10.1002/aenm.202200641}, pages = {11}, year = {2022}, abstract = {The interplay between free charge carriers, charge transfer (CT) states and singlet excitons (S-1) determines the recombination pathway and the resulting open circuit voltage (V-OC) of organic solar cells. By combining a well-aggregated low bandgap polymer with different blend ratios of the fullerenes PCBM and ICBA, the energy of the CT state (E-CT) is varied by 130 meV while leaving the S-1 energy of the polymer (ES1\[{E_{{{\rm{S}}_1}}}\]) unaffected. It is found that the polymer exciton dominates the radiative properties of the blend when ECT\[{E_{{\rm{CT}}}}\] approaches ES1\[{E_{{{\rm{S}}_1}}}\], while the V-OC remains limited by the non-radiative decay of the CT state. It is concluded that an increasing strength of the exciton in the optical spectra of organic solar cells will generally decrease the non-radiative voltage loss because it lowers the radiative V-OC limit (V-OC,V-rad), but not because it is more emissive. The analysis further suggests that electronic coupling between the CT state and the S-1 will not improve the V-OC, but rather reduce the V-OC,V-rad. It is anticipated that only at very low CT state absorption combined with a fairly high CT radiative efficiency the solar cell benefit from the radiative properties of the singlet excitons.}, language = {en} } @article{GerhardWegenerKuenstleretal.2000, author = {Gerhard, Reimund and Wegener, Michael and K{\"u}nstler, Wolfgang and Wirges, Werner and G{\"o}rne, Thomas and Urayama, D. and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Inverse piezoelectricity of porous PTFE films with bipolar space charge}, year = {2000}, language = {en} }