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Unge M, Aspåker H, Nilsson F, Pierre M, Hedenqvist MS. Coarse-Grained Model for Prediction of Hole Mobility in Polyethylene. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:7882-7894. [PMID: 37842881 PMCID: PMC10653082 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00210] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023]
Abstract
Electrical conductivity measurements of polyethylene indicate that the semicrystalline structure and morphology influence the conductivity. To include this effect in atomistic charge transport simulations, models that explicitly or implicitly take morphology into account are required. In the literature, charge transport simulations of amorphous polyethylene have been successfully performed using short oligomers to represent the polymer. However, a more realistic representation of the polymer structure is desired, requiring the development of fast and efficient charge transport algorithms that can handle large molecular systems through coarse-graining. Here, such a model for charge transport simulations in polyethylene is presented. Quantum chemistry calculations were used to define six segmentation rules on how to divide a polymer chain into shorter segments representing localized molecular orbitals. Applying the rules to amorphous systems yields distributions of segments with mode and median segment lengths relatively close to the persistence length of polyethylene. In an initial test, the segments of an amorphous polyethylene were used as hopping sites in kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) simulations, which yielded simulated hole mobilities that were within the experimental range. The activation energy of the simulated system was lower compared to the experimental values reported in the literature. A conclusion may be that the experimental result can only be explained by a model containing chemical defects that generate deep traps.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mikael Unge
- NKT
HV Cables, Technology Consulting, SE-721 78 Västerås, Sweden
- Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Polymeric Materials Division, School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Hannes Aspåker
- NKT
HV Cables, Technology Consulting, SE-721 78 Västerås, Sweden
| | - Fritjof Nilsson
- Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Polymeric Materials Division, School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
- FSCN
Research Centre, Mid Sweden University, 85170 Sundsvall, Sweden
| | - Max Pierre
- Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Polymeric Materials Division, School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Mikael S. Hedenqvist
- Department
of Fibre and Polymer Technology, Polymeric Materials Division, School
of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
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2
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Ma J, Du Z, Lei Z, Wang L, Yu Y, Ye X, Ou W, Wei X, Ai B, Zhou Y. Intermolecular 3D-MoRSE Descriptors for Fast and Accurate Prediction of Electronic Couplings in Organic Semiconductors. J Chem Inf Model 2023; 63:5089-5096. [PMID: 37566518 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jcim.3c00786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 08/13/2023]
Abstract
The theoretical rational design of organic semiconductors faces an obstacle in that the performance of organic semiconductors depends very much on their stacking and local morphology (for example, phase domains), which involves numerous molecules. Simulation becomes computationally expensive as intermolecular electronic couplings have to be calculated from density functional theory. Therefore, developing fast and accurate methods for intermolecular electronic coupling estimation is essential. In this work, by developing a series of new intermolecular 3D descriptors, we achieved fast and accurate prediction of electronic couplings in both crystalline and amorphous thin films. Three groups of developed descriptors could perform faster and higher accuracy prediction on electronic couplings than the most advanced state-of-the-art descriptors. This work paves the way for large-scale simulations, high-throughput calculations, and screening of organic semiconductors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiacheng Ma
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Zhenya Du
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Guangzhou Xinhua University, Guangzhou 510520, China
| | - Zhanpeng Lei
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Lewen Wang
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yinye Yu
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
- Micro-Nano Manufacturing and System Integration Center, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China
| | - Xin Ye
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Wen Ou
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Xingzhan Wei
- Micro-Nano Manufacturing and System Integration Center, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
| | - Bin Ai
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
| | - Yecheng Zhou
- Guangzhou Key Laboratory of Flexible Electronic Materials and Wearable Devices, School of Material Science and Engineering, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
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3
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Yang W, Yao Y, Guo P, Sun H, Luo Y. Optimum driving energy for achieving balanced open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2018; 20:29866-29875. [PMID: 30468215 DOI: 10.1039/c8cp05145c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Organic bulk heterojunction solar cells generally suffer from a trade-off between the open circuit voltage (Voc) and the short circuit current density (Jsc) under a given donor/acceptor (D/A) interfacial energetic offset (or the so-called driving force). Here we theoretically investigate the optimum driving energy required for achieving the balanced Jsc and Voc simultaneously. To this end, the Jscversus the driving force ΔE curves are calculated under two different charge separation mechanisms by employing the drift-diffusion method. For the Marcus incoherent mechanism, the curve features a high plateau in a broad range of ΔE starting from 0.2 eV, which is due to the accumulation of undissociated excitons within their lifetime and signifies the possibility of obtaining a sizable Jsc under a ΔE value much smaller than the reorganization energy. After incorporating both the electron and hole transfer pathways into the device model, the calculated J-V curves are comparable to experimentally measured ones foractual blended systems of different driving forces. For the coherent mechanism, it is demonstrated that the maximum Jsc can also be achieved under the ΔE of 0.2 eV if a large proportion of the high-lying delocalized states are harvested through tuning the density of states for the charge transfer excitons to reduce the sub-gap states. This theoretical work revealed quantitatively the relationship between the interfacial energy offsets and device performance, and also provides some guidelines for identifying the macroscopic features of the actual charge separation mechanisms in bulk heterojunction solar cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenchao Yang
- Key Laboratory of Microelectronics and Energy of Henan, School of Physics and Electronic Engineering, Xinyang Normal University, Xinyang, 464000, China.
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4
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Chen J, Liu Q, Li H, Zhao Z, Lu Z, Huang Y, Xu D. Density Functional Theory Investigations of D-A-D' Structural Molecules as Donor Materials in Organic Solar Cell. Front Chem 2018; 6:200. [PMID: 29915784 PMCID: PMC5994543 DOI: 10.3389/fchem.2018.00200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/07/2018] [Accepted: 05/15/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Squaraine core based small molecules in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells have received extensive attentions due to their distinguished photochemical properties in far red and infrared domain. In this paper, combining theoretical simulations and experimental syntheses and characterizations, three major factors (fill factor, short circuit and open-cirvuit voltage) have been carried out together to achieve improvement of power conversion efficiencies of solar cells. As model material systems with D-A-D' framework, two asymmetric squaraines (CNSQ and CCSQ-Tol) as donor materials in bulk heterojunction organic solar cell were synthesized and characterized. Intensive density functional theory computations were applied to identify some direct connections between three factors and corresponding molecular structural properties. It then helps us to predict one new molecule of CCSQ'-Ox that matches all the requirements to improve the power conversion efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Junxian Chen
- MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China.,College of Chemistry and Environment Protection Engineering, SouthWest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, China
| | - Qingyu Liu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Hao Li
- Department of Chemistry, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China
| | - Zhigang Zhao
- College of Chemistry and Environment Protection Engineering, SouthWest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, China
| | - Zhiyun Lu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Yan Huang
- MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
| | - Dingguo Xu
- MOE Key Laboratory of Green Chemistry and Technology, College of Chemistry, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
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Rinn A, Breuer T, Wiegand J, Beck M, Hübner J, Döring RC, Oestreich M, Heimbrodt W, Witte G, Chatterjee S. Interfacial Molecular Packing Determines Exciton Dynamics in Molecular Heterostructures: The Case of Pentacene-Perfluoropentacene. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2017; 9:42020-42028. [PMID: 29135216 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b11118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
The great majority of electronic and optoelectronic devices depend on interfaces between p-type and n-type semiconductors. Finding matching donor-acceptor systems in molecular semiconductors remains a challenging endeavor because structurally compatible molecules may not necessarily be suitable with respect to their optical and electronic properties, and the large exciton binding energy in these materials may favor bound electron-hole pairs rather than free carriers or charge transfer at an interface. Regardless, interfacial charge-transfer exciton states are commonly considered as an intermediate step to achieve exciton dissociation. The formation efficiency and decay dynamics of such states will strongly depend on the molecular makeup of the interface, especially the relative alignment of donor and acceptor molecules. Structurally well-defined pentacene-perfluoropentacene heterostructures of different molecular orientations are virtually ideal model systems to study the interrelation between molecular packing motifs at the interface and their electronic properties. Comparing the emission dynamics of the heterosystems and the corresponding unitary films enables accurate assignment of every observable emission signal in the heterosystems. These heterosystems feature two characteristic interface-specific luminescence channels at around 1.4 and 1.5 eV that are not observed in the unitary samples. Their emission strength strongly depends on the molecular alignment of the respective donor and acceptor molecules, emphasizing the importance of structural control for device construction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre Rinn
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Tobias Breuer
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Julia Wiegand
- Institut für Festkörperphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover , Appelstrasse 2, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
| | - Michael Beck
- Institut für Festkörperphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover , Appelstrasse 2, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
| | - Jens Hübner
- Institut für Festkörperphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover , Appelstrasse 2, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
| | - Robin C Döring
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Michael Oestreich
- Institut für Festkörperphysik, Leibniz Universität Hannover , Appelstrasse 2, D-30167 Hannover, Germany
| | - Wolfram Heimbrodt
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Gregor Witte
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
| | - Sangam Chatterjee
- Faculty of Physics & Materials Sciences Centre, Philipps-Universität Marburg , Renthof 5, 35032 Marburg, Germany
- Institute of Experimental Physics I, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen , Heinrich-Buff-Ring 16, D-35392 Giessen, Germany
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6
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Sousa L, Volpi R, da Silva Filho DA, Linares M. Mobility field and mobility temperature dependence in PC61BM: A kinetic Monte-Carlo study. Chem Phys Lett 2017. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cplett.2017.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/18/2022]
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7
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Zhang Y, Duan Y, Song L, Zheng D, Zhang M, Zhao G. Charge-transfer mobility and electrical conductivity of PANI as conjugated organic semiconductors. J Chem Phys 2017; 147:114905. [DOI: 10.1063/1.5003395] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Yahong Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Solidification Control and Digital Preparation Technology (Liaoning Province), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, People’s Republic of China
| | - Yuping Duan
- Key Laboratory of Solidification Control and Digital Preparation Technology (Liaoning Province), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, People’s Republic of China
| | - Lulu Song
- Key Laboratory of Solidification Control and Digital Preparation Technology (Liaoning Province), School of Materials Science and Engineering, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian 116085, People’s Republic of China
| | - Daoyuan Zheng
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic of China
| | - Mingxing Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic of China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Science, Institute of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
| | - Guangjiu Zhao
- State Key Laboratory of Molecular Reaction Dynamics, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, 457 Zhongshan Road, Dalian 116023, People’s Republic of China
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Science, Institute of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, School of Science, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China
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8
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Volpi R, Linares M. Study of the cold charge transfer state separation at the TQ1/PC 71 BM interface. J Comput Chem 2017; 38:1039-1048. [PMID: 28318028 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.24776] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2016] [Revised: 02/03/2017] [Accepted: 02/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Charge transfer (CT) state separation is one of the most critical processes in the functioning of an organic solar cell. In this article, we study a bilayer of TQ1 and PC71 BM molecules presenting disorder at the interface, obtained by means of Molecular Dynamics. The study of the CT state splitting can be first analyzed through the CT state splitting diagram, introduced in a previous work. Through this analysis, we identify the possibility of CT state splitting within Marcus Theory in function of the electric field. Once the right range of electric fields has been identified, we perform Kinetic Monte Carlo simulations to estimate percentages and times for the CT state splitting and the free charge carriers collection. Statistical information extracted from these simulations allows us to highlight the importance of polarization and to test the limits of the predictions given by the CT state splitting diagram. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Riccardo Volpi
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden
| | - Mathieu Linares
- Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden.,Swedish e-Science Research Centre (SeRC), Linköping University, Linköping, SE-581 83, Sweden
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9
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Athanasopoulos S, Tscheuschner S, Bässler H, Köhler A. Efficient Charge Separation of Cold Charge-Transfer States in Organic Solar Cells Through Incoherent Hopping. J Phys Chem Lett 2017; 8:2093-2098. [PMID: 28436660 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b00595] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/13/2023]
Abstract
We demonstrate that efficient and nearly field-independent charge separation of electron-hole pairs in organic planar heterojunction solar cells can be described by an incoherent hopping mechanism. Using kinetic Monte Carlo simulations that include the effect of on-chain delocalization as well as entropic contributions, we simulate the dissociation of the charge-transfer state in polymer-fullerene bilayer solar cells. The model further explains experimental results of almost field independent charge separation in bilayers of molecular systems with fullerenes and provides important guidelines at the molecular level for maximizing the efficiencies of organic solar cells. Thus, utilizing coherent phenomena is not necessarily required for highly efficient charge separation in organic solar cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stavros Athanasopoulos
- Departamento de Física, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid , Avenida Universidad 30, Leganés 28911, Madrid, Spain
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