@article{FrischSchubertPreisetal.2012, author = {Frisch, Johannes and Schubert, Marcel and Preis, Eduard and Rabe, J{\"u}rgen P. and Neher, Dieter and Scherf, Ullrich and Koch, Norbert}, title = {Full electronic structure across a polymer heterojunction solar cell}, series = {Journal of materials chemistry}, volume = {22}, journal = {Journal of materials chemistry}, number = {10}, publisher = {Royal Society of Chemistry}, address = {Cambridge}, issn = {0959-9428}, doi = {10.1039/c1jm14968g}, pages = {4418 -- 4424}, year = {2012}, abstract = {We correlate the morphology and energy level alignment of bilayer structures comprising the donor poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the acceptor polyfluorene copolymer poly(9,90dialklylfluorene-alt-4,7-bis(2,5-thiendiyl)-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole) (PFTBTT) with the performance of these bilayers in organic photovoltaic cells (OPVCs). The conducting polymer poly(ethylenedioxythiophene): poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDT:PSS) was used as the bottom electrode and Ca as the top electrode. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) revealed that notable interface dipoles occur at all interfaces across the OPVC structure, highlighting that vacuum level alignment cannot reliably be used to estimate the electronic properties for device design. Particularly the effective electrode work function values (after contact formation with the conjugated polymers) differ significantly from those of the pristine electrode materials. Chemical reactions between PEDT: PSS and P3HT on the one hand and Ca and PFTBTT on the other hand are identified as cause for the measured interface dipoles. The vacuum level shift between P3HT and PFTBTT is related to mutual energy level pinning at gap states. Annealing induced morphological changes at the P3HT/PFTBTT interface increased the efficiency of OPVCs, while the electronic structure was not affected by thermal treatment.}, language = {en} } @article{SchubertFrischAllardetal.2017, author = {Schubert, Marcel and Frisch, Johannes and Allard, Sybille and Preis, Eduard and Scherf, Ullrich and Koch, Norbert and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Tuning side chain and main chain order in a prototypical donor-acceptor copolymer}, series = {Elementary Processes in Organic Photovoltaics}, volume = {272}, journal = {Elementary Processes in Organic Photovoltaics}, publisher = {Springer}, address = {Berlin}, isbn = {978-3-319-28338-8}, issn = {0065-3195}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-319-28338-8_10}, pages = {243 -- 265}, year = {2017}, abstract = {The recent development of donor-acceptor copolymers has led to an enormous improvement in the performance of organic solar cells and organic field-effect transistors. Here we describe the synthesis, detailed characterisation, and application of a series of structurally modified copolymers to investigate fundamental structure-property relationships in this class of conjugated polymers. The interplay between chemical structure and optoelectronic properties is investigated. These are further correlated to the charge transport and solar cell performance, which allows us to link their chemical structure to the observed physical properties.}, language = {en} } @article{SchubertPreisBlakesleyetal.2013, author = {Schubert, Marcel and Preis, Eduard and Blakesley, James C. and Pingel, Patrick and Scherf, Ullrich and Neher, Dieter}, title = {Mobility relaxation and electron trapping in a donor/acceptor copolymer}, series = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, volume = {87}, journal = {Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics}, number = {2}, publisher = {American Physical Society}, address = {College Park}, issn = {1098-0121}, doi = {10.1103/PhysRevB.87.024203}, pages = {12}, year = {2013}, abstract = {To address the nature of charge transport and the origin of severe (intrinsic) trapping in electron-transporting polymers, transient and steady-state charge transport measurements have been conducted on the prototype donor/acceptor copolymer poly[2,7-(9,9-dialkyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole)] (PFTBTT). A charge-generation layer technique is used to selectively address transport of the desired charge carrier type, to perform time-of-flight measurements on samples with < 200 nm thickness, and to combine the time-of-flight and the photocharge extraction by linearly increasing voltage (photo-CELIV) techniques to investigate charge carrier dynamics over a wide time range. Significant trapping of free electrons is observed in the bulk of dioctyl-substituted PFTBTT (alt-PF8TBTT), introducing a strong relaxation of the charge carrier mobility with time. We used Monte-Carlo simulation to simulate the measured transient data and found that all measurements can be modeled with a single parameter set, with the charge transport behavior determined by multiple trapping and detrapping of electrons in an exponential trap distribution. The influence of the concomitant mobility relaxation on the transient photocurrent characteristics in photo-CELIV experiments is discussed and shown to explain subtle features that were seen in former publications but were not yet assigned to electron trapping. Comparable studies on PFTBTT copolymers with chemical modifications of the side chains and backbone suggest that the observed electron trapping is not caused by a distinct chemical species but rather is related to interchain interactions.}, language = {en} }