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Exciton diffusion and photoluminescence quenching in conjugated polymer/fullerene heterostructures are studied by time-resolved photoluminescence. It is observed that heterostructures consisting of a spin-coated poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV)-based derivative and evaporated C60 are ill-defined because of diffusion of C60 into the polymer, leading to an overestimation of the exciton diffusion length. This artifact is resolved by the use of a novel, thermally side-chain polymerizing and cross-linking fullerene derivative (F2D) containing two diacetylene moieties, forming a completely immobilized electron acceptor layer. With this heterostructure test system, an exciton diffusion length of 5 +/- 1 nm is derived for this PPV derivative from time-integrated luminescence quenching data.

The family of soluble fullerene derivatives comprises a widely studied group of electron transporting molecules for use in organic electronic and optoelectronic devices. For electronic applications, electron transporting (n-channel) materials are required for implementation into organic complementary logic circuit architectures. To date, few soluble candidate materials have been studied that fulfill the stringent requirements of high carrier mobility and air stability. Here we present a study of three soluble fullerenes with varying electron affinity to assess the impact of electronic structure on device performance and air stability. Through theoretical and experimental analysis of the electronic structure, characterization of thin-film structure, and characterization of transistor device properties we find that the air stability of the present series of fullerenes not only depends on the absolute electron affinity of the semiconductor but also on the disorder within the thin-film. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report time-resolved excited state absorption measurements which demonstrate subpicosecond photoinduced electron transfer using soluble derivatives of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) as donors blended with a functionalized fullerene (methanofullerene) as acceptor. The subpicosecond photoinduced absorption spectra of the polymer/methanofullerene blends show that electron transfer from the donor to the acceptor occurs within a picosecond of photoexcitation of the conjugated polymer. Precise determination of the electron transfer dynamics was obtained by monitoring the dichroic ratio. The charge separated state is metastable and persists into the millisecond time domain, yielding an asymmetry of 10 orders of magnitude between the forward and reverse electron transfer times. The increased miscibility of the functionalized methanofullerene with the conjugated polymer is important for preparation of films with sufficiently high acceptor concentrations for practical devices based on photoinduced charge separation. © 1996 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A series of new, easily synthesized C60–fullerene derivatives is introduced that allow for optimization of the interactions between rr-P3HT and the fullerene by systematic variation of the size of the ester group. Two compounds gave overall cell efficiencies of 4.8%, clearly outperforming [60]PCBM which gives 4.3% under identical conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three different theoretical approaches are presented to identify pathways to organic solar cells with power conversion efficiencies in excess of 20%. A radiation limit for organic solar cells is introduced that elucidates the role of charge-transfer (CT) state absorption. Provided this CT action is sufficiently weak, organic solar cells can be as efficient as their inorganic counterparts. Next, a model based on Marcus theory of electronic transfer that also considers exciton generation in both the electron donor and electron acceptor is used to show how reduction of the reorganization energies can lead to substantial efficiency gains. Finally, the dielectric constant is introduced as a central parameter for efficient solar cells. By using a drift-diffusion model, it is found that efficiencies of more than 20% are within reach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the synthesis and complete characterization of soluble derivatives of C60. Modular approach; Functionality as either hydrophilic or hydrophobic; Carboxylic acid as intermediate; Different cyclic voltammograms.

Fluorene-containing PCBM analogs have been synthesized and tested with a polyfluorene copolymer, PF10TBT, in organic photovoltaic devices resulting in an increase of ∼130 mV in the open circuit voltage compared to devices with PCBM as acceptor material. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'phonon-glass electron-crystal' concept has triggered most of the progress that has been achieved in inorganic thermoelectrics in the past two decades. Organic thermoelectric materials, unlike their inorganic counterparts, exhibit molecular diversity, flexible mechanical properties and easy fabrication, and are mostly 'phonon glasses'. However, the thermoelectric performances of these organic materials are largely limited by low molecular order and they are therefore far from being 'electron crystals'. Here, we report a molecularly n-doped fullerene derivative with meticulous design of the side chain that approaches an organic 'PGEC' thermoelectric material. This thermoelectric material exhibits an excellent electrical conductivity of >10 S cm−1 and an ultralow thermal conductivity of <0.1 Wm−1K−1, leading to the best figure of merit ZT = 0.34 (at 120 °C) among all reported single-host n-type organic thermoelectric materials. The key factor to achieving the record performance is to use 'arm-shaped' double-triethylene-glycol-type side chains, which not only offer excellent doping efficiency (~60%) but also induce a disorder-to-order transition upon thermal annealing. This study illustrates the vast potential of organic semiconductors as thermoelectric materials. Achieved high thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in organic thermoelectric materials remains a challenge due to their low packing order and poor host/dopant miscibility. Here, the authors report side chain-engineered n-doped fullerene derivatives with record ZT >0.3 for organic thermoelectrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We demonstrate a complementary-like inverter comprised of two identical ambipolar field-effect transistors based on the solution processable methanofullerene [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). The transistors are capable of operating in both the p- and n-channel regimes depending upon the bias conditions. However, in the p-channel regime transistor operation is severely contact limited. We attribute this to the presence of a large injection barrier for holes at the Au/PCBM interface. Despite this barrier the inverter operates in both the first and third quadrant of the voltage output versus voltage input plot exhibiting a maximum gain in the order of 20. Since the inverter represents the basic building block of most logic circuits we anticipate that other complementary-like circuits can be realized by this approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the isolation and characterization of a fulleroid carboxylic acid. Improvement in the preparation of an immediate precursor to an acid chloride intermediate; Interplay between acid strength and hydrolysis of a carboxylate ester or a fulleroid-methanofullerene arrangement; Preparative scale photochemical fulleroid-methanofullerene rearrangement.

Reports on a photochemical conversion of a fulleroid carrying methyl butyrate substituents on the methane carbon to its methanofullerene isomer via di-pi-methane rearrangements. Detection of metastable triplet states using near-steady photoinduced absorption (PIA) spectroscopy.