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Visualizing charge separation in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.

Vithanage, Dimali LU ; Devižis, A ; Abramavičius, V ; Infahsaeng, Yingyot LU ; Abramavičius, D ; Mackenzie, R C I ; Keivanidis, P E ; Yartsev, Arkady LU orcid ; Hertel, D and Nelson, J , et al. (2013) In Nature Communications 4.
Abstract
Solar cells based on conjugated polymer and fullerene blends have been developed as a low-cost alternative to silicon. For efficient solar cells, electron-hole pairs must separate into free mobile charges that can be extracted in high yield. We still lack good understanding of how, why and when carriers separate against the Coulomb attraction. Here we visualize the charge separation process in bulk heterojunction solar cells by directly measuring charge carrier drift in a polymer:fullerene blend with ultrafast time resolution. We show that initially only closely separated (<1 nm) charge pairs are created and they separate by several nanometres during the first several picoseconds. Charge pairs overcome Coulomb attraction and form free... (More)
Solar cells based on conjugated polymer and fullerene blends have been developed as a low-cost alternative to silicon. For efficient solar cells, electron-hole pairs must separate into free mobile charges that can be extracted in high yield. We still lack good understanding of how, why and when carriers separate against the Coulomb attraction. Here we visualize the charge separation process in bulk heterojunction solar cells by directly measuring charge carrier drift in a polymer:fullerene blend with ultrafast time resolution. We show that initially only closely separated (<1 nm) charge pairs are created and they separate by several nanometres during the first several picoseconds. Charge pairs overcome Coulomb attraction and form free carriers on a subnanosecond time scale. Numerical simulations complementing the experimental data show that fast three-dimensional charge diffusion within an energetically disordered medium, increasing the entropy of the system, is sufficient to drive the charge separation process. (Less)
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organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Nature Communications
volume
4
article number
2334
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • wos:000323752900001
  • pmid:23945881
  • scopus:84883107394
  • pmid:23945881
ISSN
2041-1723
DOI
10.1038/ncomms3334
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
The information about affiliations in this record was updated in December 2015. The record was previously connected to the following departments: Chemical Physics (S) (011001060)
id
c8a8ceaa-5c73-4da2-8b07-06f86fb07fe4 (old id 4005698)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 12:51:41
date last changed
2023-11-12 08:35:13
@article{c8a8ceaa-5c73-4da2-8b07-06f86fb07fe4,
  abstract     = {{Solar cells based on conjugated polymer and fullerene blends have been developed as a low-cost alternative to silicon. For efficient solar cells, electron-hole pairs must separate into free mobile charges that can be extracted in high yield. We still lack good understanding of how, why and when carriers separate against the Coulomb attraction. Here we visualize the charge separation process in bulk heterojunction solar cells by directly measuring charge carrier drift in a polymer:fullerene blend with ultrafast time resolution. We show that initially only closely separated (&lt;1 nm) charge pairs are created and they separate by several nanometres during the first several picoseconds. Charge pairs overcome Coulomb attraction and form free carriers on a subnanosecond time scale. Numerical simulations complementing the experimental data show that fast three-dimensional charge diffusion within an energetically disordered medium, increasing the entropy of the system, is sufficient to drive the charge separation process.}},
  author       = {{Vithanage, Dimali and Devižis, A and Abramavičius, V and Infahsaeng, Yingyot and Abramavičius, D and Mackenzie, R C I and Keivanidis, P E and Yartsev, Arkady and Hertel, D and Nelson, J and Sundström, Villy and Gulbinas, V}},
  issn         = {{2041-1723}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Nature Communications}},
  title        = {{Visualizing charge separation in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms3334}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/ncomms3334}},
  volume       = {{4}},
  year         = {{2013}},
}