TY - JOUR A1 - Pingel, P. A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Comprehensive picture of p-type doping of P3HT with the molecular acceptor F(4)TCNQ JF - Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics N2 - By means of optical spectroscopy, Kelvin probe, and conductivity measurements, we study the p-type doping of the donor polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene), P3HT, with the molecular acceptor tetrafluorotetracyanoquin-odimethane, F(4)TCNQ, covering a broad range of molar doping ratios from the ppm to the percent regime. Thorough quantitative analysis of the specific near-infrared absorption bands of ionized F(4)TCNQ reveals that almost every F(4)TCNQ dopant undergoes integer charge transfer with a P3HT site. However, only about 5% of these charge carrier pairs are found to dissociate and contribute a free hole for electrical conduction. The nonlinear behavior of the conductivity on doping ratio is rationalized by a numerical mobility model that accounts for the broadening of the energetic distribution of transport sites by the Coulomb potentials of ionized F(4)TCNQ dopants. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115209 Y1 - 2013 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.87.115209 SN - 1098-0121 VL - 87 IS - 11 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hofmann, Alexander J. L. A1 - Züfle, Simon A1 - Shimizu, Kohei A1 - Schmid, Markus A1 - Wessels, Vivien A1 - Jäger, Lars A1 - Altazin, Stephane A1 - Ikegami, Keitaro A1 - Khan, Motiur Rahman A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Ishii, Hisao A1 - Ruhstaller, Beat A1 - Brütting, Wolfgang T1 - Dipolar Doping of Organic Semiconductors to Enhance Carrier Injection JF - Physical review applied N2 - If not oriented perfectly isotropically, the strong dipole moment of polar organic semiconductor materials such as tris-(8-hydroxyquinolate)aluminum (Alq3) will lead to the buildup of a giant surface potential (GSP) and thus to a macroscopic dielectric polarization of the organic film. Despite this having been a known fact for years, the implications of such high potentials within an organic layer stack have only been studied recently. In this work, the influence of the GSP on hole injection into organic layers is investigated. Therefore, we apply a concept called dipolar doping to devices consisting of the prototypical organic materials N,N′-Di(1-naphthyl)-N,N′-diphenyl-(1,1′-biphenyl)-4,4′-diamine (NPB) as nonpolar host and Alq3 as dipolar dopant with different mixing ratios to tune the GSP. The mixtures are investigated in single-layer monopolar devices as well as bilayer metal/insulator/semiconductor structures. Characterization is done electrically using current-voltage (I-V) characteristics, impedance spectroscopy, and charge extraction by linearly increasing voltage and time of flight, as well as with ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy. We find a maximum in device performance for moderate to low doping concentrations of the polar species in the host. The observed behavior can be described on the basis of the Schottky effect for image-force barrier lowering, if the changes in the interface dipole, the carrier mobility, and the GSP induced by dipolar doping are taken into account. KW - Carrier dynamics KW - Electric polarization KW - Optoelectronics KW - Organic electronics KW - Doped semiconductors KW - Interfaces KW - Organic LEDs KW - Organic semiconductors Y1 - 2019 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.12.064052 SN - 2331-7019 VL - 12 IS - 6 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Laquai, Frederic A1 - Andrienko, Denis A1 - Deibel, Carsten A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Charge carrier generation, recombination, and extraction in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction organic solar cells JF - Elementary processes in organic photovoltaics N2 - In this chapter we review the basic principles of photocurrent generation in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, discuss the loss channels limiting their efficiency, and present case studies of several polymer-fullerene blends. Using steady-state and transient, optical, and electrooptical techniques, we create a precise picture of the fundamental processes that ultimately govern solar cell efficiency. KW - Charge extraction KW - Charge generation KW - Charge recombination KW - Organic solar cells KW - PBT7 KW - PBTTT KW - PCPDTBT Y1 - 2026 SN - 978-3-319-28338-8 SN - 978-3-319-28336-4 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28338-8_11 SN - 0065-3195 VL - 272 SP - 267 EP - 291 PB - Springer CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hahn, Tobias A1 - Tscheuschner, Steffen A1 - Saller, Christina A1 - Strohriegl, Peter A1 - Boregowda, Puttaraju A1 - Mukhopadhyay, Tushita A1 - Patil, Satish A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Bässler, Heinz A1 - Köhler, Anna T1 - Role of Intrinsic Photogeneration in Single Layer and Bilayer Solar Cells with C-60 and PCBM JF - The journal of physical chemistry : C, Nanomaterials and interfaces Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b08471 SN - 1932-7447 VL - 120 SP - 25083 EP - 25091 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yuan, Jun A1 - Zhang, Chujun A1 - Qiu, Beibei A1 - Liu, Wei A1 - So, Shu Kong A1 - Mainville, Mathieu A1 - Leclerc, Mario A1 - Shoaee, Safa A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Zou, Yingping T1 - Effects of energetic disorder in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells JF - Energy & environmental science N2 - Organic solar cells (OSCs) have progressed rapidly in recent years through the development of novel organic photoactive materials, especially non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). Consequently, OSCs based on state-of-the-art NFAs have reached significant milestones, such as similar to 19% power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and small energy losses (less than 0.5 eV). Despite these significant advances, understanding of the interplay between molecular structure and optoelectronic properties lags significantly behind. For example, despite the theoretical framework for describing the energetic disorder being well developed for the case of inorganic semiconductors, the question of the applicability of classical semiconductor theories in analyzing organic semiconductors is still under debate. A general observation in the inorganic field is that inorganic photovoltaic materials possessing a polycrystalline microstructure exhibit suppressed disorder properties and better charge carrier transport compared to their amorphous analogs. Accordingly, this principle extends to the organic semiconductor field as many organic photovoltaic materials are synthesized to pursue polycrystalline-like features. Yet, there appears to be sporadic examples that exhibit an opposite trend. However, full studies decoupling energetic disorder from aggregation effects have largely been left out. Hence, the potential role of the energetic disorder in OSCs has received little attention. Interestingly, recently reported state-of-the-art NFA-based devices could achieve a small energetic disorder and high PCE at the same time; and interest in this investigation related to the disorder properties in OSCs was revived. In this contribution, progress in terms of the correlation between molecular design and energetic disorder is reviewed together with their effects on the optoelectronic mechanism and photovoltaic performance. Finally, the specific challenges and possible solutions in reducing the energetic disorder of OSCs from the viewpoint of materials and devices are proposed. Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/d2ee00271j SN - 1754-5692 SN - 1754-5706 VL - 15 IS - 7 SP - 2806 EP - 2818 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mueller, Lars A1 - Nanova, Diana A1 - Glaser, Tobias A1 - Beck, Sebastian A1 - Pucci, Annemarie A1 - Kast, Anne K. A1 - Schroeder, Rasmus R. A1 - Mankel, Eric A1 - Pingel, Patrick A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Kowalsky, Wolfgang A1 - Lovrincic, Robert T1 - Charge-Transfer-Solvent Interaction Predefines Doping Efficiency in p-Doped P3HT Films JF - Chemistry of materials : a publication of the American Chemical Society N2 - Efficient electrical doping of organic semiconductors is a necessary prerequisite for the fabrication of high performance organic electronic devices. In this work, we study p-type doping of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) with 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F(4)TCNQ) spin-cast from two different solvents. Using electron diffraction, we find strong dopant-induced pi-pi-stacking for films from the solvent chloroform, but not from chlorobenzene. This image is confirmed and expanded by the analysis of vibrational features of P3HT and polaron absorptions using optical spectroscopy. Here, a red-shifted polaron absorption is found in doped films from chloroform, caused by a higher conjugation length of the polymer backbone. These differences result in a higher conductivity of films from chloroform. We use optical spectroscopy on the corresponding blend solutions to shed light on the origin of this effect and propose a model to explain why solutions of doped P3HT reveal more aggregation of charged molecules in chlorobenzene, whereas more order is finally observed in dried films from chloroform. Our study emphasizes the importance of solvent parameters exceeding the bare solubility of pure dopant and host material for the preparation of highly conductive doped films. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b01629 SN - 0897-4756 SN - 1520-5002 VL - 28 SP - 4432 EP - 4439 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Benduhn, Johannes A1 - Piersimoni, Fortunato A1 - Londi, Giacomo A1 - Kirch, Anton A1 - Widmer, Johannes A1 - Koerner, Christian A1 - Beljonne, David A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Spoltore, Donato A1 - Vandewal, Koen T1 - Impact of triplet excited states on the open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells JF - dvanced energy materials N2 - The best organic solar cells (OSCs) achieve comparable peak external quantum efficiencies and fill factors as conventional photovoltaic devices. However, their voltage losses are much higher, in particular those due to nonradiative recombination. To investigate the possible role of triplet states on the donor or acceptor materials in this process, model systems comprising Zn- and Cu-phthalocyanine (Pc), as well as fluorinated versions of these donors, combined with C-60 as acceptor are studied. Fluorination allows tuning the energy level alignment between the lowest energy triplet state (T-1) and the charge-transfer (CT) state, while the replacement of Zn by Cu as the central metal in the Pcs leads to a largely enhanced spin-orbit coupling. Only in the latter case, a substantial influence of the triplet state on the nonradiative voltage losses is observed. In contrast, it is found that for a large series of typical OSC materials, the relative energy level alignment between T-1 and the CT state does not substantially affect nonradiative voltage losses. KW - charge-transfer states KW - nonradiative voltage losses KW - organic solar cells KW - triplet excited states Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201800451 SN - 1614-6832 SN - 1614-6840 VL - 8 IS - 21 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hörmann, Ulrich A1 - Zeiske, Stefan A1 - Piersimoni, Fortunato A1 - Hoffmann, Lukas A1 - Schlesinger, Raphael A1 - Koch, Norbert A1 - Riedl, Thomas A1 - Andrienko, Denis A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Stark effect of hybrid charge transfer states at planar ZnO/organic interfaces JF - Physical review : B, Condensed matter and materials physics N2 - We investigate the bias dependence of the hybrid charge transfer state emission at planar heterojunctions between the metal oxide acceptor ZnO and three donor molecules. The electroluminescence peak energy linearly increases with the applied bias, saturating at high fields. Variation of the organic layer thickness and deliberate change of the ZnO conductivity through controlled photodoping allow us to confirm that this bias-induced spectral shift relates to the internal electric field in the organic layer rather than the filling of states at the hybrid interface. We show that existing continuum models overestimate the hole delocalization and propose a simple electrostatic model in which the linear and quadratic Stark effects are explained by the electrostatic interaction of a strongly polarizable molecular cation with its mirror image. Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.98.155312 SN - 2469-9950 SN - 2469-9969 VL - 98 IS - 15 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mansour, Ahmed E. A1 - Lungwitz, Dominique A1 - Schultz, Thorsten A1 - Arvind, Malavika A1 - Valencia, Ana M. A1 - Cocchi, Caterina A1 - Opitz, Andreas A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Koch, Norbert T1 - The optical signatures of molecular-doping induced polarons in poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) BT - individual polymer chains versus aggregates JF - Journal of materials chemistry : C, Materials for optical and electronic devices N2 - Optical absorption spectroscopy is a key method to investigate doped conjugated polymers and to characterize the doping-induced charge carriers, i.e., polarons. For prototypical poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT), the absorption intensity of molecular dopant induced polarons is widely used to estimate the carrier density and the doping efficiency, i.e., the number of polarons formed per dopant molecule. However, the dependence of the polaron-related absorption features on the structure of doped P3HT, being either aggregates or separated individual chains, is not comprehensively understood in contrast to the optical absorption features of neutral P3HT. In this work, we unambiguously differentiate the optical signatures of polarons on individual P3HT chains and aggregates in solution, notably the latter exhibiting the same shape as aggregates in solid thin films. This is enabled by employing tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane (BCF) as dopant, as this dopant forms only ion pairs with P3HT and no charge transfer complexes, and BCF and its anion have no absorption in the spectral region of P3HT polarons. Polarons on individual chains exhibit absorption peaks at 1.5 eV and 0.6 eV, whereas in aggregates the high-energy peak is split into a doublet 1.3 eV and 1.65 eV, and the low-energy peak is shifted below 0.5 eV. The dependence of the fraction of solvated individual chains versus aggregates on absolute solution concentration, dopant concentration, and temperature is elucidated, and we find that aggregates predominate in solution under commonly used processing conditions. Aggregates in BCF-doped P3HT solution can be effectively removed upon simple filtering. From varying the filter pore size (down to 200 nm) and thin film morphology characterization with scanning force microscopy we reveal the aggregates' size dependence on solution absolute concentration and dopant concentration. Furthermore, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the dopant loading in aggregates is higher than for individual P3HT chains. The results of this study help understanding the impact of solution pre-aggregation on thin film properties of molecularly doped P3HT, and highlight the importance of considering such aggregation for other doped conjugated polymers in general. Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c9tc06509a SN - 2050-7526 SN - 2050-7534 VL - 8 IS - 8 SP - 2870 EP - 2879 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - GEN A1 - Kurpiers, Jona A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Dispersive Non-Geminate Recombination in an Amorphous Polymer:Fullerene Blend N2 - Recombination of free charge is a key process limiting the performance of solar cells. For low mobility materials, such as organic semiconductors, the kinetics of non-geminate recombination (NGR) is strongly linked to the motion of charges. As these materials possess significant disorder, thermalization of photogenerated carriers in the inhomogeneously broadened density of state distribution is an unavoidable process. Despite its general importance, knowledge about the kinetics of NGR in complete organic solar cells is rather limited. We employ time delayed collection field (TDCF) experiments to study the recombination of photogenerated charge in the high-performance polymer:fullerene blend PCDTBT:PCBM. NGR in the bulk of this amorphous blend is shown to be highly dispersive, with a continuous reduction of the recombination coefficient throughout the entire time scale, until all charge carriers have either been extracted or recombined. Rapid, contact-mediated recombination is identified as an additional loss channel, which, if not properly taken into account, would erroneously suggest a pronounced field dependence of charge generation. These findings are in stark contrast to the results of TDCF experiments on photovoltaic devices made from ordered blends, such as P3HT:PCBM, where non-dispersive recombination was proven to dominate the charge carrier dynamics under application relevant conditions. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 228 Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-91541 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Liu, W. A1 - Tkachov, R. A1 - Komber, H. A1 - Senkovskyy, V. A1 - Schubert, M. A1 - Wei, Z. A1 - Facchetti, A. A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Kiriy, A. T1 - Chain-growth polycondensation of perylene diimide-based copolymers BT - a new route to regio-regular perylene diimide-based acceptors for all-polymer solar cells and n-type transistors N2 - Herein, we report the chain-growth tin-free room temperature polymerization method to synthesize n-type perylene diimide-dithiophene-based conjugated polymers (PPDIT2s) suitable for solar cell and transistor applications. The palladium/electron-rich tri-tert-butylphosphine catalyst is effective to enable the chain-growth polymerization of anion-radical monomer Br-TPDIT-Br/Zn to PPDIT2 with a molecular weight up to Mw ≈ 50 kg mol−1 and moderate polydispersity. This is the second example of the polymerization of unusual anion-radical aromatic complexes formed in a reaction of active Zn and electron-deficient diimide-based aryl halides. As such, the discovered polymerization method is not a specific reactivity feature of the naphthalene-diimide derivatives but is rather a general polymerization tool. This is an important finding, given the significantly higher maximum external quantum efficiency that can be reached with PDI-based copolymers (32–45%) in all-polymer solar cells compared to NDI-based materials (15–30%). Our studies revealed that PPDIT2 synthesized by the new method and the previously published polymer prepared by step-growth Stille polycondensation show similar electron mobility and all-polymer solar cell performance. At the same time, the polymerization reported herein has several technological advantages as it proceeds relatively fast at room temperature and does not involve toxic tin-based compounds. Because several chain-growth polymerization reactions are well-suited for the preparation of well-defined multi-functional polymer architectures, the next target is to explore the utility of the discovered polymerization in the synthesis of end-functionalized polymers and block copolymers. Such materials would be helpful to improve the nanoscale morphology of polymer blends in all-polymer solar cells. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 273 Y1 - 2014 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-98724 ER - TY - GEN A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Kniepert, Juliane A1 - Elimelech, Arik A1 - Koster, L. Jan Anton T1 - A New Figure of Merit for Organic Solar Cells with Transport-limited Photocurrents N2 - Compared to their inorganic counterparts, organic semiconductors suffer from relatively low charge carrier mobilities. Therefore, expressions derived for inorganic solar cells to correlate characteristic performance parameters to material properties are prone to fail when applied to organic devices. This is especially true for the classical Shockley-equation commonly used to describe current-voltage (JV)-curves, as it assumes a high electrical conductivity of the charge transporting material. Here, an analytical expression for the JV-curves of organic solar cells is derived based on a previously published analytical model. This expression, bearing a similar functional dependence as the Shockley-equation, delivers a new figure of merit α to express the balance between free charge recombination and extraction in low mobility photoactive materials. This figure of merit is shown to determine critical device parameters such as the apparent series resistance and the fill factor. T3 - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe - 225 KW - Electronic and spintronic devices KW - Semiconductors Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-91414 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kurpiers, Jona A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Dispersive Non-Geminate Recombination in an Amorphous Polymer:Fullerene Blend JF - Scientific reports N2 - Recombination of free charge is a key process limiting the performance of solar cells. For low mobility materials, such as organic semiconductors, the kinetics of non-geminate recombination (NGR) is strongly linked to the motion of charges. As these materials possess significant disorder, thermalization of photogenerated carriers in the inhomogeneously broadened density of state distribution is an unavoidable process. Despite its general importance, knowledge about the kinetics of NGR in complete organic solar cells is rather limited. We employ time delayed collection field (TDCF) experiments to study the recombination of photogenerated charge in the high-performance polymer:fullerene blend PCDTBT:PCBM. NGR in the bulk of this amorphous blend is shown to be highly dispersive, with a continuous reduction of the recombination coefficient throughout the entire time scale, until all charge carriers have either been extracted or recombined. Rapid, contact-mediated recombination is identified as an additional loss channel, which, if not properly taken into account, would erroneously suggest a pronounced field dependence of charge generation. These findings are in stark contrast to the results of TDCF experiments on photovoltaic devices made from ordered blends, such as P3HT:PCBM, where non-dispersive recombination was proven to dominate the charge carrier dynamics under application relevant conditions. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26832 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 6 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Kniepert, Juliane A1 - Elimelech, Arik A1 - Koster, L. Jan Anton T1 - A New Figure of Merit for Organic Solar Cells with Transport-limited Photocurrents JF - Scientific reports N2 - Compared to their inorganic counterparts, organic semiconductors suffer from relatively low charge carrier mobilities. Therefore, expressions derived for inorganic solar cells to correlate characteristic performance parameters to material properties are prone to fail when applied to organic devices. This is especially true for the classical Shockley-equation commonly used to describe current-voltage (JV)-curves, as it assumes a high electrical conductivity of the charge transporting material. Here, an analytical expression for the JV-curves of organic solar cells is derived based on a previously published analytical model. This expression, bearing a similar functional dependence as the Shockley-equation, delivers a new figure of merit α to express the balance between free charge recombination and extraction in low mobility photoactive materials. This figure of merit is shown to determine critical device parameters such as the apparent series resistance and the fill factor. KW - Electronic and spintronic devices KW - Semiconductors Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep24861 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 6 PB - Nature Publishing Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ilnytskyi, Jaroslav A1 - Saphiannikova, Marina A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Photo-induced deformations in azobenzene-containing side-chain polymers : molecular dynamics study N2 - We perform molecular dynamics simulations of azobenzene containing side-chain liquid crystalline polymer subject to an external model field that mimicks the reorientations of the azobenzenes upon irradiation with polarized light. The smectic phase of the polymer is studied with the field applied parallel to the nematic director, forcing the trans isomers to reorient perpendicularly to the field (the direction of which can be assosiated with the light polarization). The coupling between the reorientation of azobenzenes and mechanical deformation of the sample is found to depend on the field strength. In a weak field the original smectic order is melted gradually with no apparent change in the simulation box shape, whereas in a strong field two regimes are observed. During the first one a rapid melting of the liquid crystalline order is accompanied by the contraction of the polymer along the field direction (the effect similar to the one observed experimentally in azopenzene containing elastomers). During the slower second regime, the smectic layers are rebuilt to accomodate the preferential direction of chromophores perperdicular to the field. Y1 - 2006 UR - http://www.icmp.lviv.ua/journal/Contents.html SN - 1607-324X ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kietzke, Thomas A1 - Horhold, H. H. A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Efficient polymer solar cells based on M3EH-PPV N2 - We report on polymer blend solar cells with an external quantum efficiency of more than 30% and a hi-h overall energy conversion efficiency (ECE) under white light illumination (100 mW/cm(2)) Of Lip to 1.7% using a blend of M3EH- PPV (poly [2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-phenylene-1,2-ethenylene-2-methoxy-5(2-ethylhexyloxy)-(1,4-pheiiylene-1,2-ethenylene)]) and CN-ether-PPV (poly[oxa-1,4-phenylene-1,2(1-cyano)ethenylene-2,5-dioctyloxy-1,4-phenylene-1,2-(2-cyano)ethellyiene-1,4- phenylene]). We attribute these high efficiencies to the formation of a vertically composition graded structure during spin coating Photoluminescence measurements performed on the blend layers indicated the formation of exciplexes between both types of polymers, which we propose to be one factor preventing even higher efficiencies Y1 - 2005 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yang, Xiaohui A1 - Müller, David C. A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Meerholz, Klaus T1 - Highly efficient polymeric electrophosphorescent diodes N2 - Polymeric electrophosphorescent LEDs with internal quantum efficiencies approaching unity have been fabricated. Such performance levels are previously unknown for OLEDs. The key to this success is redox chemically doped oxetane- crosslinkable hole-transporting layers with multilayer capability (see figure). They improve hole injection and act as electron-blocking layers, without the need to include exciton-or hole-blocking layers Y1 - 2006 UR - 1960 = DOI: 10.1002/adma.200501867 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Egbe, D. A. M. A1 - Carbonnier, B. A1 - Paul, E. L. A1 - Muhlbacher, D. A1 - Kietzke, Thomas A1 - Birckner, Eckhard A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Grummt, U. W. A1 - Pakula, T. T1 - Diyne-containing PPVs : Solid-state properties and comparison of their photophysical and electrochemical properties with those of their Yne-containing counterparts N2 - Diyne-containing poly(p-phenylene-vinylene)s, 4a-d, of general chemical structure-(Ph-C&3bond; C-C&3bond; C-Ph- CH&3bond; CH-Ph-CH&3bond; CH-)(n), obtained through polycondensation reactions of 1,4-bis(4-formyl-2,5-dioctyloxyphenyl)- buta-1,3-diyne (2) with various 2,5-dialkoxy-p-xylylenebis(diethylphosphonates), 3a-d, are the subject of this report. The polymers exhibit great disparity in their degree of polymerization, n, which might be ascribed to side-chain-related differences in reactivity of the reactive species during the polycondensation process and which led to n-dependent absorption (solution and solid state) and emission (solution) behaviors of the polymers. Polarizing optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry are employed to probe their thermal behavior. The structure is investigated by means of wide-angle X-ray diffraction for both isotropic and macroscopically oriented samples. Comparison of photophysical (experimental and theoretical) and electrochemical properties of the polymers with those of their yne- containing counterparts 6a-d [-(Ph-C&3bond; C-Ph-CH&3bond; CH-Ph-CH&3bond; CH-)(n)] has been carried out. Similar photophysical behavior was observed for both types of polymers despite the difference in backbone conjugation pattern. The introduction of a second yne unit in 4 lowers the HOMO and LUMO levels, thereby enhancing the electron affinity of polymers 4 compared to polymers 6. The "wider opening" introduced by the second yne unit facilitates moreover the movement of charges during the electrochemical processes leading to minimal discrepancy, Delta E-g between the optical and electrochemical band gap energies. Polymers 6, in contrast, show significant side-chain-dependent Delta E-g values. Low turn-on voltages between 2 and 3 V and maximal luminous efficiencies between 0.32 and 1.25 cd/A were obtained from LED devices of configuration ITO/PEDOT:PSS/polymer 4/Ca/Al Y1 - 2005 SN - 0024-9297 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Egbe, D. A. M. A1 - Ulbricht, C. A1 - Orgis, Thomas A1 - Carbonnier, B. A1 - Kietzke, Thomas A1 - Peip, M. A1 - Metzner, M. A1 - Gericke, M. A1 - Birckner, Eckhard A1 - Pakula, T. A1 - Neher, Dieter A1 - Grumm, U. W. T1 - Odd-even effects and the influence of length and specific positioning of alkoxy side chains on the optical properties of PPE-PPV polymers N2 - This contribution reports the combined influences of odd-even effects and the specific positioning of alkoxy side chains OR1 = (OCn+H-10(2(n+10)+1)) and OR2 = (OCnH2n+1) (with n = 6, 7, 8, 9) on the phenylene-ethynylene and phenylene- vinylene segments, respectively, on the optical properties of hybrid polymers P(n+10)/n of general repeating unit: -Ph-C equivalent to C-Ph-C equivalent to C-Ph-CH=CH-Ph-CH=CH-. For the polymeric materials, visual color impression varies alternatively between orange red (P16/6 and P18/8) and yellow (P17/7 and P19/9) according to the odd and even features of the alkoxy side chains, where odd or even relates to the total number of sp(3)-hybridized atoms within the side chains. This side chain related effect is ascribed to both absorptive and emissive behaviors of the polymers on the basis of photophysical investigations in the bulk. Almost identical thin film absorption spectra were obtained for all four materials; however, the photoluminescence of the odd polymers, P16/6 (lambda(f) = 556 nm) and P18/ 8 (lambda(f) = 614 nm), was red-shifted relative to that of their even counterparts (lambda(f) = 535 nm). Further, the P18/8 maximum at 614 nm can be readily assigned to excimer emission, as evidenced by the largest Stokes shift (5600 cm(- 1)), largest fwhmf-value (3700 cm(-1))(,) and the lowest Phi(f)-value of 24%. The strong pi-pi interchain interaction in P18/8, due to loose alkoxy side chains packing, does not only favor fluorescence quenching but also enable an effective inter- as well as intra-molecular recombination of the generated positive and negative polarons in electrolurninescence, which explains the good EL properties of this polymer irrespective of the solvent used. A voltage-dependent blue shift of the EL spectra of up to 100 nm was observed for P18/8 devices prepared from aromatic solvents. This red to green EL shift as observed with increasing voltage is assigned to conformational changes of the polymer chains with increasing temperature Y1 - 2005 SN - 0897-4756 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kurpiers, Jona A1 - Neher, Dieter T1 - Dispersive Non-Geminate Recombination in an Amorphous Polymer: Fullerene Blend JF - Scientific reports N2 - Recombination of free charge is a key process limiting the performance of solar cells. For low mobility materials, such as organic semiconductors, the kinetics of non-geminate recombination (NGR) is strongly linked to the motion of charges. As these materials possess significant disorder, thermalization of photogenerated carriers in the inhomogeneously broadened density of state distribution is an unavoidable process. Despite its general importance, knowledge about the kinetics of NGR in complete organic solar cells is rather limited. We employ time delayed collection field (TDCF) experiments to study the recombination of photogenerated charge in the high-performance polymer: fullerene blend PCDTBT:PCBM. NGR in the bulk of this amorphous blend is shown to be highly dispersive, with a continuous reduction of the recombination coefficient throughout the entire time scale, until all charge carriers have either been extracted or recombined. Rapid, contact-mediated recombination is identified as an additional loss channel, which, if not properly taken into account, would erroneously suggest a pronounced field dependence of charge generation. These findings are in stark contrast to the results of TDCF experiments on photovoltaic devices made from ordered blends, such as P3HT:PCBM, where non-dispersive recombination was proven to dominate the charge carrier dynamics under application relevant conditions. Y1 - 2016 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/srep26832 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 6 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER -