1
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Stojanovic L, Giannini S, Blumberger J. Exciton Transport in the Nonfullerene Acceptor O-IDTBR from Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics. J Chem Theory Comput 2024; 20:6241-6252. [PMID: 38967252 PMCID: PMC11270823 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.4c00605] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2024] [Revised: 06/11/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/06/2024]
Abstract
Theory, computation, and experiment have given strong evidence that charge carriers in organic molecular crystals form partially delocalized quantum objects that diffuse very efficiently via a mechanism termed transient delocalization. It is currently unclear how prevalent this mechanism is for exciton transport. Here we carry out simulation of singlet Frenkel excitons (FE) in a molecular organic semiconductor that belongs to the class of nonfullerene acceptors, O-IDTBR, using the recently introduced FE surface hopping nonadiabatic molecular dynamics method. We find that FE are, on average, localized on a single molecule in the crystal due to sizable reorganization energy and moderate excitonic couplings. Yet, our simulations suggest that the diffusion mechanism is more complex than simple local hopping; in addition to hopping, we observe frequent transient delocalization events where the exciton wave function expands over 10 or more molecules for a short period of time in response to thermal excitations within the excitonic band, followed by de-excitation and contraction onto a single molecule. The transient delocalization events lead to an increase in the diffusion constant by a factor of 3-4, depending on the crystallographic direction as compared to the situation where only local hopping events are considered. Intriguingly, O-IDTBR appears to be a moderately anisotropic 3D "conductor" for excitons but a highly anisotropic 2D conductor for electrons. Taken together with previous simulation results, two trends seem to emerge for molecular organic crystals: excitons tend to be more localized and slower than charge carriers due to higher internal reorganization energy, while exciton transport tends to be more isotropic than charge transport due to the weaker distance dependence of excitonic versus electronic coupling.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ljiljana Stojanovic
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Institute
of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds, National Research Council (ICCOM-CNR), Pisa I-56124, Italy
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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2
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Sokolov M, Hoffmann DS, Dohmen PM, Krämer M, Höfener S, Kleinekathöfer U, Elstner M. Non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations provide new insights into the exciton transfer in the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:19469-19496. [PMID: 38979564 DOI: 10.1039/d4cp02116a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 07/10/2024]
Abstract
A trajectory surface hopping approach, which uses machine learning to speed up the most time-consuming steps, has been adopted to investigate the exciton transfer in light-harvesting systems. The present neural networks achieve high accuracy in predicting both Coulomb couplings and excitation energies. The latter are predicted taking into account the environment of the pigments. Direct simulation of exciton dynamics through light-harvesting complexes on significant time scales is usually challenging due to the coupled motion of nuclear and electronic degrees of freedom in these rather large systems containing several relatively large pigments. In the present approach, however, we are able to evaluate a statistically significant number of non-adiabatic molecular dynamics trajectories with respect to exciton delocalization and exciton paths. The formalism is applied to the Fenna-Matthews-Olson complex of green sulfur bacteria, which transfers energy from the light-harvesting chlorosome to the reaction center with astonishing efficiency. The system has been studied experimentally and theoretically for decades. In total, we were able to simulate non-adiabatically more than 30 ns, sampling also the relevant space of parameters within their uncertainty. Our simulations show that the driving force supplied by the energy landscape resulting from electrostatic tuning is sufficient to funnel the energy towards site 3, from where it can be transferred to the reaction center. However, the high efficiency of transfer within a picosecond timescale can be attributed to the rather unusual properties of the BChl a molecules, resulting in very low inner and outer-sphere reorganization energies, not matched by any other organic molecule, e.g., used in organic electronics. A comparison with electron and exciton transfer in organic materials is particularly illuminating, suggesting a mechanism to explain the comparably high transfer efficiency.
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Affiliation(s)
- Monja Sokolov
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - David S Hoffmann
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - Philipp M Dohmen
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
- Institute of Nanotechnology (INT), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Mila Krämer
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | - Sebastian Höfener
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
| | | | - Marcus Elstner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry (IPC), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.
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3
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Fay TP. Extending non-adiabatic rate theory to strong electronic couplings in the Marcus inverted regime. J Chem Phys 2024; 161:014101. [PMID: 38949594 DOI: 10.1063/5.0218653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/13/2024] [Accepted: 06/12/2024] [Indexed: 07/02/2024] Open
Abstract
Electron transfer reactions play an essential role in many chemical and biological processes. Fermi's golden rule (GR), which assumes that the coupling between electronic states is small, has formed the foundation of electron transfer rate theory; however, in short range electron/energy transfer reactions, this coupling can become very large, and, therefore, Fermi's GR fails to make even qualitatively accurate rate predictions. In this paper, I present a simple modified GR theory to describe electron transfer in the Marcus inverted regime at arbitrarily large electronic coupling strengths. This theory is based on an optimal global rotation of the diabatic states, which makes it compatible with existing methods for calculating GR rates that can account for nuclear quantum effects with anharmonic potentials. Furthermore, the optimal GR (OGR) theory can also be combined with analytic theories for non-adiabatic rates, such as Marcus theory and Marcus-Levich-Jortner theory, offering clear physical insights into strong electronic coupling effects in non-adiabatic processes. OGR theory is also tested on a large set of spin-boson models and an anharmonic model against exact quantum dynamics calculations, where it performs well, correctly predicting rate turnover at large coupling strengths. Finally, an example application to a boron-dipyrromethane-anthracene photosensitizer reveals that strong coupling effects inhibit excited state charge recombination in this system, reducing the rate of this process by a factor of 4. Overall, OGR theory offers a new approach to calculating electron transfer rates at strong couplings, offering new physical insights into a range of non-adiabatic processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Thomas P Fay
- Institut de Chimie Radicalaire, Aix-Marseille Université, Campus de Saint-Jérôme, Av. Esc. Normandie Niemen, 13397 Marseille, France
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4
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Rammal H, Ralko A, Ciuchi S, Fratini S. Transient Localization from the Interaction with Quantum Bosons. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2024; 132:266502. [PMID: 38996285 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.132.266502] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2023] [Accepted: 05/22/2024] [Indexed: 07/14/2024]
Abstract
We carefully revisit the electron-boson scattering problem, going beyond weak-coupling expansions and popular semiclassical treatments. By providing numerically exact results valid at finite temperatures, we demonstrate the existence of a broad regime of electron-boson scattering where quantum localization processes become relevant despite the absence of extrinsic disorder. Localization in the Anderson sense is caused by the dynamical randomness resulting from a large thermal boson population, being, however, effective only at transient times before diffusion can set in. Compelling evidence of this transient localization phenomenon is provided by the observation of a distinctive displaced Drude peak in the optical absorption and the ensuing suppression of conductivity. Our findings identify a general route for anomalous metallic behavior that can broadly apply in interacting quantum matter.
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5
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Wang CI, Maier JC, Jackson NE. Accessing the electronic structure of liquid crystalline semiconductors with bottom-up electronic coarse-graining. Chem Sci 2024; 15:8390-8403. [PMID: 38846409 PMCID: PMC11151863 DOI: 10.1039/d3sc06749a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/01/2024] [Indexed: 06/09/2024] Open
Abstract
Understanding the relationship between multiscale morphology and electronic structure is a grand challenge for semiconducting soft materials. Computational studies aimed at characterizing these relationships require the complex integration of quantum-chemical (QC) calculations, all-atom and coarse-grained (CG) molecular dynamics simulations, and back-mapping approaches. However, these methods pose substantial computational challenges that limit their application to the requisite length scales of soft material morphologies. Here, we demonstrate the bottom-up electronic coarse-graining (ECG) of morphology-dependent electronic structure in the liquid-crystal-forming semiconductor, 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)-7-octyl-benzothienobenzothiophene (BTBT). ECG is applied to construct density functional theory (DFT)-accurate valence band Hamiltonians of the isotropic and smectic liquid crystal (LC) phases using only the CG representation of BTBT. By bypassing the atomistic resolution and its prohibitive computational costs, ECG enables the first calculations of the morphology dependence of the electronic structure of charge carriers across LC phases at the ∼20 nm length scale, with robust statistical sampling. Kinetic Monte Carlo (kMC) simulations reveal a strong morphology dependence on zero-field charge mobility among different LC phases as well as the presence of two-molecule charge carriers that act as traps and hinder charge transport. We leverage these results to further evaluate the feasibility of developing mesoscopic, field-based ECG models in future works. The fully CG approach to electronic property predictions in LC semiconductors opens a new computational direction for designing electronic processes in soft materials at their characteristic length scales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chun-I Wang
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 505 S Mathews Avenue Urbana Illinois 61801 USA
| | - J Charlie Maier
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 505 S Mathews Avenue Urbana Illinois 61801 USA
| | - Nicholas E Jackson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 505 S Mathews Avenue Urbana Illinois 61801 USA
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6
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Pankratov D, Hidalgo Martinez S, Karman C, Gerzhik A, Gomila G, Trashin S, Boschker HTS, Geelhoed JS, Mayer D, De Wael K, J R Meysman F. The organo-metal-like nature of long-range conduction in cable bacteria. Bioelectrochemistry 2024; 157:108675. [PMID: 38422765 DOI: 10.1016/j.bioelechem.2024.108675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2023] [Revised: 02/22/2024] [Accepted: 02/24/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Cable bacteria are filamentous, multicellular microorganisms that display an exceptional form of biological electron transport across centimeter-scale distances. Currents are guided through a network of nickel-containing protein fibers within the cell envelope. Still, the mechanism of long-range conduction remains unresolved. Here, we characterize the conductance of the fiber network under dry and wet, physiologically relevant, conditions. Our data reveal that the fiber conductivity is high (median value: 27 S cm-1; range: 2 to 564 S cm-1), does not show any redox signature, has a low thermal activation energy (Ea = 69 ± 23 meV), and is not affected by humidity or the presence of ions. These features set the nickel-based conduction mechanism in cable bacteria apart from other known forms of biological electron transport. As such, conduction resembles that of an organic semi-metal with a high charge carrier density. Our observation that biochemistry can synthesize an organo-metal-like structure opens the way for novel bio-based electronic technologies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dmitrii Pankratov
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; A-Sense Lab, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Silvia Hidalgo Martinez
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Cheryl Karman
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; A-Sense Lab, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Anastasia Gerzhik
- Institute of Biological Information Processing, Bioelectronics (IBI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany
| | - Gabriel Gomila
- Nanoscale Bioelectric Characterization Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalunya (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Baldiri i Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Department of Electronics and Biomedical Engineering, Universitat de Barcelona, Martí i Franqués 1, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Stanislav Trashin
- A-Sense Lab, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Henricus T S Boschker
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629HZ Delft, the Netherlands
| | - Jeanine S Geelhoed
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
| | - Dirk Mayer
- Institute of Biological Information Processing, Bioelectronics (IBI-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52428 Jülich, Germany
| | - Karolien De Wael
- A-Sense Lab, Department of Bioscience Engineering, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium
| | - Filip J R Meysman
- Geobiology Group, Microbial Systems Technology Excellence Centre, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium; Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, 2629HZ Delft, the Netherlands.
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7
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Citty B, Lynd JK, Gera T, Varvelo L, Raccah DIGB. MesoHOPS: Size-invariant scaling calculations of multi-excitation open quantum systems. J Chem Phys 2024; 160:144118. [PMID: 38619062 DOI: 10.1063/5.0197825] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/14/2024] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 04/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The photoexcitation dynamics of molecular materials on the 10-100 nm length scale depend on complex interactions between electronic and vibrational degrees of freedom, rendering exact calculations difficult or intractable. The adaptive Hierarchy of Pure States (adHOPS) is a formally exact method that leverages the locality imposed by interactions between thermal environments and electronic excitations to achieve size-invariant scaling calculations for single-excitation processes in systems described by a Frenkel-Holstein Hamiltonian. Here, we extend adHOPS to account for arbitrary couplings between thermal environments and vertical excitation energies, enabling formally exact, size-invariant calculations that involve multiple excitations or states with shared thermal environments. In addition, we introduce a low-temperature correction and an effective integration of the noise to reduce the computational expense of including ultrafast vibrational relaxation in Hierarchy of Pure States (HOPS) simulations. We present these advances in the latest version of the open-source MesoHOPS library and use MesoHOPS to characterize charge separation at a one-dimensional organic heterojunction when both the electron and hole are mobile.
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Affiliation(s)
- Brian Citty
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - Jacob K Lynd
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - Tarun Gera
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
| | - Leonel Varvelo
- Department of Chemistry, Southern Methodist University, PO Box 750314 Dallas, Texas 75205, USA
| | - Doran I G B Raccah
- Department of Chemistry, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712, USA
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8
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Navamani K. Unified Entropy-Ruled Einstein's Relation for Bulk and Low-Dimensional Molecular-Material Systems: A Hopping-to-Band Shift Paradigm. J Phys Chem Lett 2024; 15:2519-2528. [PMID: 38411901 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c02513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/28/2024]
Abstract
We present a unified paradigm on entropy-ruled Einstein's diffusion-mobility relation (μ/D ratio) for 1D, 2D, and 3D free-electron solid state systems. The localization transport in the extended molecules is well approximated by the continuum time-delayed hopping factor within our unified entropy-ruled transport method of noninteracting quantum systems. Moreover, we generalize an entropy-dependent diffusion relation for 1D, 2D, and 3D systems as defined by D d , h e f f = D d , h e f f = 0 exp ( ( d - 1 ) h e f f d + 2 ) , where heff and d are the effective entropy and dimension (d = 1, 2, 3), respectively. This generalized relation is valid for both equilibrium and nonequilibrium transport systems since the parameter heff is closely connected with the nonequilibrium fluctuation theorem-based entropy production rule. Importantly, we herein revisit the Boltzmann approach using an entropy-ruled method for mobility calculation for the universal quantum materials that is expressed as μ d = [ ( d d + 2 ) q d h e f f d η ] v F 2 τ 2 , where v F 2 τ 2 is the diffusion constant for band transport systems and η is the chemical potential. According to our entropy-ruled μ/D relation, the Navamani-Shockley diode equation is transformed.
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Affiliation(s)
- K Navamani
- Department of Physics, Centre for Research and Development (CFRD), KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Coimbatore-641407, India
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9
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Wang Z, Miglani B, Yuan S, Bevan KH. On the application of Marcus-Hush theory to small polaron chemical dynamics in oxides: its relationship to the Holstein model and the importance of lattice-orbital symmetries. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:4812-4827. [PMID: 38284789 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp05218d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/30/2024]
Abstract
The chemical dynamics of small polaron hopping within oxides is often interpreted through two-site variations on Marcus-Hush theory, while from a physics perspective small polaron hopping is more often approached from Holstein's solid-state formalism. Here we seek to provide a chemically oriented viewpoint, focusing on small polaron hopping in oxides, concerning these two phenomenological frameworks by employing both tight-binding modelling and first-principles calculations. First, within a semiclassical approach the Marcus-Hush relations are overviewed as a two-site reduction of Holstein's model. Within the single-band regime, similarities and differences between Holstein derived small polaron hopping and the Marcus-Hush model are also discussed. In this context the emergence of adiabaticity (or, conversely, diabaticity) is also explored within each framework both analytically and by directly evolving the system wavefunction. Then, through first-principles calculations of select oxides we explore how coupled lattice and orbital symmetries can impact on hopping properties - in a manner that is quite distinct typical chemical applications of Marcus-Hush theory. These results are then related back to the Holstein model to explore the relative applicability of the two frameworks towards interpreting small polaron hopping properties, where it is emphasized that the Holstein model offers an increasingly more appealing physicochemical interpretation of hopping processes as band and/or coupling interactions increase. Overall, this work aims to strengthen the physically oriented exploration of small polarons and their physicochemical properties in the growing oxide chemistry community.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zi Wang
- Division of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| | - Bobby Miglani
- Division of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| | - Shuaishuai Yuan
- Division of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
| | - Kirk H Bevan
- Division of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada.
- Centre for the Physics of Materials, McGill University, Montréal, Québec, Canada
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10
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van der Veen JR, Valianti S, van der Zant HSJ, Blanter YM, Meysman FJR. A model analysis of centimeter-long electron transport in cable bacteria. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2024; 26:3139-3151. [PMID: 38189548 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp04466a] [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: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
The recent discovery of cable bacteria has greatly expanded the known length scale of biological electron transport, as these multi-cellular bacteria are capable of mediating electrical currents across centimeter-scale distances. To enable such long-range conduction, cable bacteria embed a network of regularly spaced, parallel protein fibers in their cell envelope. These fibers exhibit extraordinary electrical properties for a biological material, including an electrical conductivity that can exceed 100 S cm-1. Traditionally, long-range electron transport through proteins is described as a multi-step hopping process, in which the individual hopping steps are described by Marcus electron transport theory. Here, we investigate to what extent such a classical hopping model can explain the conductance data recorded for individual cable bacterium filaments. To this end, the conductive fiber network in cable bacteria is modelled as a set of parallel one-dimensional hopping chains. Comparison of model simulated and experimental current(I)/voltage(V) curves, reveals that the charge transport is field-driven rather than concentration-driven, and there is no significant injection barrier between electrodes and filaments. However, the observed high conductivity levels (>100 S cm-1) can only be reproduced, if we include much longer hopping distances (a > 10 nm) and lower reorganisation energies (λ < 0.2 eV) than conventionally used in electron relay models of protein structures. Overall, our model analysis suggests that the conduction mechanism in cable bacteria is markedly distinct from other known forms of long-range biological electron transport, such as in multi-heme cytochromes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jasper R van der Veen
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft, 2628CJ, The Netherlands.
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, Delft, 2629HZ, The Netherlands
| | - Stephanie Valianti
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft, 2628CJ, The Netherlands.
| | - Herre S J van der Zant
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft, 2628CJ, The Netherlands.
| | - Yaroslav M Blanter
- Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, Lorentzweg 1, Delft, 2628CJ, The Netherlands.
| | - Filip J R Meysman
- Department of Biotechnology, Delft University of Technology, Van der Maasweg 9, Delft, 2629HZ, The Netherlands
- Excellence center for Microbial Systems Technology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, Wilrijk, 2610, Belgium.
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11
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Carey RL, Giannini S, Schott S, Lemaur V, Xiao M, Prodhan S, Wang L, Bovoloni M, Quarti C, Beljonne D, Sirringhaus H. Spin relaxation of electron and hole polarons in ambipolar conjugated polymers. Nat Commun 2024; 15:288. [PMID: 38177094 PMCID: PMC10767019 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-43505-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2023] [Accepted: 11/09/2023] [Indexed: 01/06/2024] Open
Abstract
The charge-transport properties of conjugated polymers have been studied extensively for opto-electronic device applications. Some polymer semiconductors not only support the ambipolar transport of electrons and holes, but do so with comparable carrier mobilities. This opens the possibility of gaining deeper insight into the charge-transport physics of these complex materials via comparison between electron and hole dynamics while keeping other factors, such as polymer microstructure, equal. Here, we use field-induced electron spin resonance spectroscopy to compare the spin relaxation behavior of electron and hole polarons in three ambipolar conjugated polymers. Our experiments show unique relaxation regimes as a function of temperature for electrons and holes, whereby at lower temperatures electrons relax slower than holes, but at higher temperatures, in the so-called spin-shuttling regime, the trend is reversed. On the basis of theoretical simulations, we attribute this to differences in the delocalization of electron and hole wavefunctions and show that spin relaxation in the spin shuttling regimes provides a sensitive probe of the intimate coupling between charge and structural dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Remington L Carey
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
- Institute of Chemistry of OrganoMetallic Compounds, National Research Council (ICCOM-CNR), I-56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Sam Schott
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Vincent Lemaur
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
| | - Mingfei Xiao
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0HE, UK
| | - Suryoday Prodhan
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, L69 3BX, UK
| | - Linjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310058, China
| | - Michelangelo Bovoloni
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
| | - Claudio Quarti
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, 7000, Mons, Belgium
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12
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Li W, Giannini S, Quarti C, Hou Z, Prezhdo OV, Beljonne D. Interlayer Charge Transport in 2D Lead Halide Perovskites from First Principles. J Chem Theory Comput 2023; 19:9403-9415. [PMID: 38048307 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.3c00904] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/06/2023]
Abstract
We report on the implementation of a versatile projection-operator diabatization approach to calculate electronic coupling integrals in layered periodic systems. The approach is applied to model charge transport across the saturated organic spacers in two-dimensional (2D) lead halide perovskites. The calculations yield out-of-plane charge transfer rates that decay exponentially with the increasing length of the alkyl chain, range from a few nanoseconds to milliseconds, and are supportive of a hopping mechanism. Most importantly, we show that the charge carriers strongly couple to distortions of the Pb-I framework and that accounting for the associated nonlocal dynamic disorder increases the thermally averaged interlayer rates by a few orders of magnitude compared to the frozen-ion 0 K-optimized structure. Our formalism provides the first comprehensive insight into the role of the organic spacer cation on vertical transport in 2D lead halide perovskites and can be readily extended to functional π-conjugated spacers, where we expect the improved energy alignment with the inorganic layout to speed up the charge transfer between the semiconducting layers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei Li
- School of Chemistry and Materials Science, Hunan Agricultural University, Changsha 410128, China
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Claudio Quarti
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Zhufeng Hou
- State Key Laboratory of Structural Chemistry, Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Fuzhou 350002, China
| | - Oleg V Prezhdo
- Department of Chemistry, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California 90089, United States
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, B-7000 Mons, Belgium
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13
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Dines A, Ellis M, Blumberger J. Stabilized coupled trajectory mixed quantum-classical algorithm with improved energy conservation: CTMQC-EDI. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:234118. [PMID: 38117021 DOI: 10.1063/5.0183589] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/23/2023] [Accepted: 11/26/2023] [Indexed: 12/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Coupled trajectory mixed quantum-classical (CTMQC) dynamics is a rigorous approach to trajectory-based non-adiabatic dynamics, which has recently seen an improvement to energy conservation via the introduction of the CTMQC-E algorithm. Despite this, the method's two key quantities distinguishing it from Ehrenfest dynamics, the modified Born-Oppenheimer momentum and the quantum momentum, require regularization procedures in certain circumstances. Such procedures in the latter can cause instabilities, leading to undesirable effects, such as energy drift and spurious population transfer, which is expected to become increasingly prevalent when the system gets larger as such events would happen more frequently. We propose a further modification to CTMQC-E, which includes a redefinition of the quantum momentum, CTMQC-EDI (double intercept), such that it has no formal divergences. We then show for Tully models I-III and the double arch model that the algorithm has greatly improved total energy conservation and negligible spurious population transfer at all times, in particular in regions of strong non-adiabatic coupling. CTMQC-EDI, therefore, shows promise as a numerically robust non-adiabatic dynamics technique that accounts for decoherence from first principles and that is scalable to large molecular systems and materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aaron Dines
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew Ellis
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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14
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Scholes GD. Large Coherent States Formed from Disordered k-Regular Random Graphs. ENTROPY (BASEL, SWITZERLAND) 2023; 25:1519. [PMID: 37998211 PMCID: PMC10670866 DOI: 10.3390/e25111519] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/01/2023] [Accepted: 11/03/2023] [Indexed: 11/25/2023]
Abstract
The present work is motivated by the need for robust, large-scale coherent states that can play possible roles as quantum resources. A challenge is that large, complex systems tend to be fragile. However, emergent phenomena in classical systems tend to become more robust with scale. Do these classical systems inspire ways to think about robust quantum networks? This question is studied by characterizing the complex quantum states produced by mapping interactions between a set of qubits from structure in graphs. We focus on maps based on k-regular random graphs where many edges were randomly deleted. We ask how many edge deletions can be tolerated. Surprisingly, it was found that the emergent coherent state characteristic of these graphs was robust to a substantial number of edge deletions. The analysis considers the possible role of the expander property of k-regular random graphs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gregory D Scholes
- Department of Chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544, USA
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15
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Giannini S, Di Virgilio L, Bardini M, Hausch J, Geuchies JJ, Zheng W, Volpi M, Elsner J, Broch K, Geerts YH, Schreiber F, Schweicher G, Wang HI, Blumberger J, Bonn M, Beljonne D. Transiently delocalized states enhance hole mobility in organic molecular semiconductors. NATURE MATERIALS 2023; 22:1361-1369. [PMID: 37709929 DOI: 10.1038/s41563-023-01664-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/13/2022] [Accepted: 08/14/2023] [Indexed: 09/16/2023]
Abstract
Evidence shows that charge carriers in organic semiconductors self-localize because of dynamic disorder. Nevertheless, some organic semiconductors feature reduced mobility at increasing temperature, a hallmark for delocalized band transport. Here we present the temperature-dependent mobility in two record-mobility organic semiconductors: dinaphtho[2,3-b:2',3'-f]thieno[3,2-b]-thiophene (DNTT) and its alkylated derivative, C8-DNTT-C8. By combining terahertz photoconductivity measurements with atomistic non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations, we show that while both crystals display a power-law decrease of the mobility (μ) with temperature (T) following μ ∝ T -n, the exponent n differs substantially. Modelling reveals that the differences between the two chemically similar semiconductors can be traced to the delocalization of the different states that are thermally accessible by charge carriers, which in turn depends on their specific electronic band structure. The emerging picture is that of holes surfing on a dynamic manifold of vibrationally dressed extended states with a temperature-dependent mobility that provides a sensitive fingerprint for the underlying density of states.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuele Giannini
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium.
| | | | - Marco Bardini
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium
| | - Julian Hausch
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | - Wenhao Zheng
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany
| | - Martina Volpi
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Jan Elsner
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London, UK
| | - Katharina Broch
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Yves H Geerts
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium
- International Solvay Institutes for Physics and Chemistry, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Frank Schreiber
- Institut für Angewandte Physik, Universität Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | - Guillaume Schweicher
- Laboratoire de Chimie des Polymères, Faculté des Sciences, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB), Bruxelles, Belgium
| | - Hai I Wang
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany.
- Nanophotonics, Debye Institute for Nanomaterials Science, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London, UK
| | - Mischa Bonn
- Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research, Mainz, Germany.
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons, Belgium.
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16
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Zahabi N, Baryshnikov G, Linares M, Zozoulenko I. Charge carrier dynamics in conducting polymer PEDOT using ab initio molecular dynamics simulations. J Chem Phys 2023; 159:154801. [PMID: 37843059 DOI: 10.1063/5.0169363] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
As conducting polymers become increasingly important in electronic devices, understanding their charge transport is essential for material and device development. Various semi-empirical approaches have been used to describe temporal charge carrier dynamics in these materials, but there have yet to be any theoretical approaches utilizing ab initio molecular dynamics. In this work, we develop a computational technique based on ab initio Car-Parrinello molecular dynamics to trace charge carrier temporal motion in archetypical conducting polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). Particularly, we analyze charge dynamics in a single PEDOT chain and in two coupled chains with different degrees of coupling and study the effect of temperature. In our model we first initiate a positively charged polaron (compensated by a negative counterion) at one end of the chain, and subsequently displace the counterion to the other end of the chain and trace polaron dynamics in the system by monitoring bond length alternation in the PEDOT backbone and charge density distribution. We find that at low temperature (T = 1 K) the polaron distortion gradually disappears from its initial location and reappears near the new position of the counterion. At the room temperature (T = 300 K), we find that the distortions induced by polaron, and atomic vibrations are of the same magnitude, which makes tracking the polaron distortion challenging because it is hidden behind the temperature-induced vibrations. The novel approach developed in this work can be used to study polaron mobility along and between the chains, investigate charge transport in highly doped polymers, and explore other flexible polymers, including n-doped ones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Najmeh Zahabi
- Laboratory of Organic Electronics (LOE), Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, SE-60174 Norrköping, Sweden
| | - Glib Baryshnikov
- Laboratory of Organic Electronics (LOE), Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, SE-60174 Norrköping, Sweden
| | - Mathieu Linares
- Group of Scientific Visualization, Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, SE-60174 Norrköping, Sweden
- Swedish e-Science Center (SeRC), Linköping University, SE-581 83 Linköping, Sweden
| | - Igor Zozoulenko
- Laboratory of Organic Electronics (LOE), Department of Science and Technology (ITN), Campus Norrköping, Linköping University, SE-60174 Norrköping, Sweden
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17
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Taouali W, Alimi K, Sindhoo Nangraj A, Casida ME. Density-functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT study of the chemical and physical origins of key photoproperties of end-group derivatives of a nonfullerene acceptor molecule for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. J Comput Chem 2023; 44:2130-2148. [PMID: 37452478 DOI: 10.1002/jcc.27186] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2023] [Revised: 06/18/2023] [Accepted: 06/22/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023]
Abstract
As emphasized in a recent review article (Chem. Rev. 2022, 122, 14180), organic solar cell (OSC) photoconversion efficiency has been rapidly evolving with results increasingly comparable to those of traditional inorganic solar cells. Historically, OSC performance improvement focused first on the morphology of P3HT:PC 61 BM solar cells then went through different stages to shift lately interest towards nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) as a replacement ofPC 61 BM acceptor (ACC) molecule. Here, we use density-functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT to investigate four novel NFAs of A-D-A (acceptor-donor-acceptor) form derived from the recently synthesized IDIC-4Cl (Dyes Pigm. 2019, 166, 196). Our level of theory is carefully evaluated for IDIC-4Cl and then applied to the four novel NFAs in order to understand how chemical modifications lead to physical changes in cyclic voltammetry (CV) frontier molecular orbital energies and absorption spectra in solution. Finally we design and apply a new type of Scharber plot for NFAs based upon some simple but we think reasonable assumptions. Unlike the original Scharber plots where a larger DON band gap favors a larger PCE, our modified Scharber plot reflects the fact that a smaller ACC band gap may favor PCE by filling in gaps in the DON acceptor spectrum. We predict that only the candidate molecule with the least good acceptor A, with the highest frontier molecular orbital energies, and one of the larger CV lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) - highest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO) gaps, will yield a PM6:ACC PCE exceeding that of the parent IDIC-4Cl ACC. This candidate also shows the largest oscillator strength for the primary1 (HOMO, LUMO) charge- transfer transition and the largest degree of delocalization of charge transfer of any of the ACC molecules investigated here.
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Affiliation(s)
- Walid Taouali
- Laboratoire de Recherche (LR18ES19), Synthèse Asymétrique et Ingénierie Moléculaire de Matériaux Organiques pour l'Électroniques Organiques, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia
| | - Kamel Alimi
- Laboratoire de Recherche (LR18ES19), Synthèse Asymétrique et Ingénierie Moléculaire de Matériaux Organiques pour l'Électroniques Organiques, Faculté des Sciences de Monastir, Université de Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia
- Institut National de Recherche et d'Analyse Physicochimique (INRAP) pole technologique Sidi Thabet, Ariana, Tunisia
| | - Asma Sindhoo Nangraj
- State Key Laboratory of Microbial Metabolism, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China
| | - Mark E Casida
- Laboratoire de Spectrométrie, Interactions et Chimie théorique (SITh), Département de Chimie Moléculaire (DCM, UMR CNRS/UGA 5250), Institut de Chimie Moléculaire de Grenoble (ICMG, FR2607), Université Grenoble Alpes (UGA), Grenoble, France
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18
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Cheng J, Wan S, Cao S. Promoting Solar-driven Hydrogen Peroxide Production over Thiazole-based Conjugated Polymers via Generating and Converting Singlet Oxygen. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202310476. [PMID: 37581316 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202310476] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 17.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/21/2023] [Revised: 08/14/2023] [Accepted: 08/15/2023] [Indexed: 08/16/2023]
Abstract
Solar-driven synthesis of hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) from water and air provides a low-cost and eco-friendly alternative route to the traditional anthraquinone method. Herein, four thiazole-based conjugated polymers (Tz-CPs: TTz, BTz, TBTz and BBTz) are synthesized via aldimine condensation. BBTz exhibits the highest H2 O2 production rate of 7274 μmol g-1 h-1 in pure water. Further, the reaction path is analyzed by electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR), in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform (DRIFT) and theoretical calculation, highlighting the prominent role of singlet oxygen (1 O2 ). The generation of 1 O2 occurs through the oxidation of superoxide radical (⋅O2 - ) and subsequent conversion into endoperoxides via [4+2] cycloaddition over BBTz, which promotes charge separation and reduces the barrier for H2 O2 production. This work provides new insight into the mechanism of photocatalytic O2 reduction and the molecular design of superior single-polymer photocatalysts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingzhao Cheng
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China
| | - Sijie Wan
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China
| | - Shaowen Cao
- State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, 122 Luoshi Road, Wuhan, 430070, P. R. China
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19
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Mayorgas A, Guerrero J, Calixto M. Localization measures of parity adapted U(D)-spin coherent states applied to the phase space analysis of the D-level Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model. Phys Rev E 2023; 108:024107. [PMID: 37723708 DOI: 10.1103/physreve.108.024107] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/21/2023] [Accepted: 07/10/2023] [Indexed: 09/20/2023]
Abstract
We study phase space properties of critical, parity symmetric, N-qudit systems undergoing a quantum phase transition (QPT) in the thermodynamic N→∞ limit. The D=3 level (qutrit) Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model is eventually examined as a particular example. For this purpose, we consider U(D)-spin coherent states (DSCS), generalizing the standard D=2 atomic coherent states, to define the coherent state representation Q_{ψ} (Husimi function) of a symmetric N-qudit state |ψ〉 in the phase space CP^{D-1} (complex projective manifold). DSCS are good variational approximations to the ground state of an N-qudit system, especially in the N→∞ limit, where the discrete parity symmetry Z_{2}^{D-1} is spontaneously broken. For finite N, parity can be restored by projecting DSCS onto 2^{D-1} different parity invariant subspaces, which define generalized "Schrödinger cat states" reproducing quite faithfully low-lying Hamiltonian eigenstates obtained by numerical diagonalization. Precursors of the QPT are then visualized for finite N by plotting the Husimi function of these parity projected DSCS in phase space, together with their Husimi moments and Wehrl entropy, in the neighborhood of the critical points. These are good localization measures and markers of the QPT.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alberto Mayorgas
- Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Granada, Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Julio Guerrero
- Department of Mathematics, University of Jaen, Campus Las Lagunillas s/n, 23071 Jaen, Spain
- Institute Carlos I of Theoretical and Computational Physics (iC1), University of Granada, Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
| | - Manuel Calixto
- Department of Applied Mathematics, University of Granada, Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
- Institute Carlos I of Theoretical and Computational Physics (iC1), University of Granada, Fuentenueva s/n, 18071 Granada, Spain
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20
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Dai Y, Zerbini A, Casado J, Negri F. Ambipolar Charge Transport in Organic Semiconductors: How Intramolecular Reorganization Energy Is Controlled by Diradical Character. Molecules 2023; 28:4642. [PMID: 37375198 DOI: 10.3390/molecules28124642] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2023] [Revised: 06/05/2023] [Accepted: 06/06/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023] Open
Abstract
The charged forms of π-conjugated chromophores are relevant in the field of organic electronics as charge carriers in optoelectronic devices, but also as energy storage substrates in organic batteries. In this context, intramolecular reorganization energy plays an important role in controlling material efficiency. In this work, we investigate how the diradical character influences the reorganization energies of holes and electrons by considering a library of diradicaloid chromophores. We determine the reorganization energies with the four-point adiabatic potential method using quantum-chemical calculations at density functional theory (DFT) level. To assess the role of diradical character, we compare the results obtained, assuming both closed-shell and open-shell representations of the neutral species. The study shows how the diradical character impacts the geometrical and electronic structure of neutral species, which in turn control the magnitude of reorganization energies for both charge carriers. Based on computed geometries of neutral and charged species, we propose a simple scheme to rationalize the small, computed reorganization energies for both n-type and p-type charge transport. The study is supplemented with the calculation of intermolecular electronic couplings governing charge transport for selected diradicals, further supporting the ambipolar character of the investigated diradicals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yasi Dai
- Department of Chemistry 'Giacomo Ciamician', Università di Bologna, Via F. Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Andrea Zerbini
- Department of Chemistry 'Giacomo Ciamician', Università di Bologna, Via F. Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Juan Casado
- Department of Physical Chemistry, University of Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain
| | - Fabrizia Negri
- Department of Chemistry 'Giacomo Ciamician', Università di Bologna, Via F. Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
- INSTM, UdR Bologna, Via F. Selmi, 2, 40126 Bologna, Italy
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21
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Willson JT, Liu W, Balzer D, Kassal I. Jumping Kinetic Monte Carlo: Fast and Accurate Simulations of Partially Delocalized Charge Transport in Organic Semiconductors. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:3757-3764. [PMID: 37044057 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00388] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Developing devices using disordered organic semiconductors requires accurate and practical models of charge transport. In these materials, charge transport occurs through partially delocalized states in an intermediate regime between localized hopping and delocalized band conduction. Partial delocalization can increase mobilities by orders of magnitude compared to those with conventional hopping, making it important for the design of materials and devices. Although delocalization, disorder, and polaron formation can be described using delocalized kinetic Monte Carlo (dKMC), it is a computationally expensive method. Here, we develop jumping kinetic Monte Carlo (jKMC), a model that approaches the accuracy of dKMC for modest amounts of delocalization (such as those found in disordered organic semiconductors), with a computational cost comparable to that of conventional hopping. jKMC achieves its computational performance by modeling conduction using identical spherical polarons, yielding a simple delocalization correction to the Marcus hopping rate that allows polarons to jump over their nearest neighbors. jKMC can be used in regimes of partial delocalization inaccessible to dKMC to show that modest delocalization can increase mobilities by as much as 2 orders of magnitude.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob T Willson
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - William Liu
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Daniel Balzer
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
| | - Ivan Kassal
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
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22
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Ambrosio F, Wiktor J, Landi A, Peluso A. Charge Localization in Acene Crystals from Ab Initio Electronic Structure. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:3343-3351. [PMID: 36994951 PMCID: PMC10084468 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.3c00191] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 03/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The performance of Koopmans-compliant hybrid functionals in reproducing the electronic structure of organic crystals is tested for a series of acene crystals. The calculated band gaps are found to be consistent with those achieved with the GW method at a fraction of the computational cost and in excellent accord with the experimental results at room temperature, when including the thermal renormalization. The energetics of excess holes and electrons reveals a struggle between polaronic localization and band-like delocalization. The consequences of these results on the transport properties of acene crystals are discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesco Ambrosio
- Dipartimento
di Chimica e Biologia Adolfo Zambelli, Università
di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, I-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
- Dipartimento
di Scienze, Università degli Studi
della Basilicata, Viale
dell’Ateneo Lucano, 10-85100 Potenza, Italy
| | - Julia Wiktor
- Department
of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden
| | - Alessandro Landi
- Dipartimento
di Chimica e Biologia Adolfo Zambelli, Università
di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, I-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
| | - Andrea Peluso
- Dipartimento
di Chimica e Biologia Adolfo Zambelli, Università
di Salerno, Via Giovanni Paolo II, I-84084 Fisciano (SA), Italy
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23
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Neef A, Beaulieu S, Hammer S, Dong S, Maklar J, Pincelli T, Xian RP, Wolf M, Rettig L, Pflaum J, Ernstorfer R. Orbital-resolved observation of singlet fission. Nature 2023; 616:275-279. [PMID: 37045918 PMCID: PMC10097594 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-05814-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 04/14/2023]
Abstract
Singlet fission1-13 may boost photovoltaic efficiency14-16 by transforming a singlet exciton into two triplet excitons and thereby doubling the number of excited charge carriers. The primary step of singlet fission is the ultrafast creation of the correlated triplet pair17. Whereas several mechanisms have been proposed to explain this step, none has emerged as a consensus. The challenge lies in tracking the transient excitonic states. Here we use time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to observe the primary step of singlet fission in crystalline pentacene. Our results indicate a charge-transfer mediated mechanism with a hybridization of Frenkel and charge-transfer states in the lowest bright singlet exciton. We gained intimate knowledge about the localization and the orbital character of the exciton wave functions recorded in momentum maps. This allowed us to directly compare the localization of singlet and bitriplet excitons and decompose energetically overlapping states on the basis of their orbital character. Orbital- and localization-resolved many-body dynamics promise deep insights into the mechanics governing molecular systems18-20 and topological materials21-23.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Neef
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany.
| | - Samuel Beaulieu
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
- CELIA, University of Bordeaux-CNRS-CEA, Bordeaux, France
| | - Sebastian Hammer
- Experimental Physics VI, Julius-Maximilian University Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- Center for the Physics of Materials, Departments of Physics and Chemistry, McGill University, Montréal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Shuo Dong
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
| | - Julian Maklar
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
| | - Tommaso Pincelli
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
- Institute for Optics and Atomic Physics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - R Patrick Xian
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Statistical Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
| | - Martin Wolf
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
| | - Laurenz Rettig
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jens Pflaum
- Experimental Physics VI, Julius-Maximilian University Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany
- Barvarian Centre for Applied Energy Research, Wuerzburg, Germany
| | - Ralph Ernstorfer
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin, Germany.
- Institute for Optics and Atomic Physics, Technical University Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
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24
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van Son MHC, Berghuis AM, de Waal BFM, Wenzel FA, Kreger K, Schmidt HW, Rivas JG, Vantomme G, Meijer EW. Highly Ordered Supramolecular Materials of Phase-Separated Block Molecules for Long-Range Exciton Transport. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2023:e2300891. [PMID: 37002556 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202300891] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2023] [Revised: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Efficient energy transport over long distances is essential for optoelectronic and light-harvesting devices. Although self-assembled nanofibers of organic molecules are shown to exhibit long exciton diffusion lengths, alignment of these nanofibers into films with large, organized domains with similar properties remains a challenge. Here, it is shown how the functionalization of C3 -symmetric carbonyl-bridged triarylamine trisamide (CBT) with oligodimethylsiloxane (oDMS) side chains of discrete length leads to fully covered surfaces with aligned domains up to 125 × 70 µm2 in which long-range exciton transport takes place. The nanoscale morphology within the domains consists of highly ordered nanofibers with discrete intercolumnar spacings within a soft amorphous oDMS matrix. The oDMS prevents bundling of the CBT fibers, reducing the number of defects within the CBT columns. As a result, the columns have a high degree of coherence, leading to exciton diffusion lengths of a few hundred nanometers with exciton diffusivities (≈0.05 cm2 s-1 ) that are comparable to those of a crystalline tetracene. These findings represent the next step toward fully covered surfaces of highly aligned nanofibers through functionalization with oDMS.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martin H C van Son
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Anton M Berghuis
- Department of Applied Physics and Institute for Photonic Integration, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Bas F M de Waal
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Felix A Wenzel
- Macromolecular Chemistry and Bavarian Polymer Institute, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Klaus Kreger
- Macromolecular Chemistry and Bavarian Polymer Institute, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Hans-Werner Schmidt
- Macromolecular Chemistry and Bavarian Polymer Institute, University of Bayreuth, 95447, Bayreuth, Germany
| | - Jaime Gómez Rivas
- Department of Applied Physics and Institute for Photonic Integration, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - Ghislaine Vantomme
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
| | - E W Meijer
- Institute for Complex Molecular Systems and Laboratory of Macromolecular and Organic Chemistry, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, Eindhoven, 5600 MB, The Netherlands
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25
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Toldo JM, do Casal MT, Ventura E, do Monte SA, Barbatti M. Surface hopping modeling of charge and energy transfer in active environments. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2023; 25:8293-8316. [PMID: 36916738 PMCID: PMC10034598 DOI: 10.1039/d3cp00247k] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/05/2023]
Abstract
An active environment is any atomic or molecular system changing a chromophore's nonadiabatic dynamics compared to the isolated molecule. The action of the environment on the chromophore occurs by changing the potential energy landscape and triggering new energy and charge flows unavailable in the vacuum. Surface hopping is a mixed quantum-classical approach whose extreme flexibility has made it the primary platform for implementing novel methodologies to investigate the nonadiabatic dynamics of a chromophore in active environments. This Perspective paper surveys the latest developments in the field, focusing on charge and energy transfer processes.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Elizete Ventura
- Departamento de Química, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58059-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
| | - Silmar A do Monte
- Departamento de Química, CCEN, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 58059-900, João Pessoa, Brazil.
| | - Mario Barbatti
- Aix-Marseille University, CNRS, ICR, Marseille, France.
- Institut Universitaire de France, 75231, Paris, France
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26
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Balzer D, Kassal I. Mechanism of Delocalization-Enhanced Exciton Transport in Disordered Organic Semiconductors. J Phys Chem Lett 2023; 14:2155-2162. [PMID: 36802583 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c03886] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
Large exciton diffusion lengths generally improve the performance of organic semiconductor devices, because they enable energy to be transported farther during the exciton lifetime. However, the physics of exciton motion in disordered organic materials is not fully understood, and modeling the transport of quantum-mechanically delocalized excitons in disordered organic semiconductors is a computational challenge. Here, we describe delocalized kinetic Monte Carlo (dKMC), the first model of three-dimensional exciton transport in organic semiconductors that includes delocalization, disorder, and polaron formation. We find that delocalization can dramatically increase exciton transport; for example, delocalization across less than two molecules in each direction can increase the exciton diffusion coefficient by over an order of magnitude. The mechanism for the enhancement is 2-fold: delocalization enables excitons to hop both more frequently and further in each hop. We also quantify the effect of transient delocalization (short-lived periods where excitons become highly delocalized) and show that it depends strongly upon the disorder and transition dipole moments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Balzer
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
| | - Ivan Kassal
- School of Chemistry, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales 2006, Australia
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27
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Zhang Y, Gao C, Wang P, Liu Y, Liu Z, Xie W, Xu H, Dang Y, Liu D, Ren Z, Yan S, Wang Z, Hu W, Dong H. High Electron Mobility Hot-Exciton Induced Delayed Fluorescent Organic Semiconductors. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl 2023; 62:e202217653. [PMID: 36631427 DOI: 10.1002/anie.202217653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 01/09/2023] [Accepted: 01/10/2023] [Indexed: 01/13/2023]
Abstract
The development of high mobility emissive organic semiconductors is of great significance for the fabrication of miniaturized optoelectronic devices, such as organic light emitting transistors. However, great challenge exists in designing key materials, especially those who integrates triplet exciton utilization ability. Herein, dinaphthylanthracene diimides (DNADIs), with 2,6-extended anthracene donor, and 3'- or 4'-substituted naphthalene monoimide acceptors were designed and synthesized. By introducing acceptor-donor-acceptor structure, both materials show high electron mobility. Moreover, by fine-tuning of substitution sites, good integration with high solid state photoluminescence quantum yield of 26 %, high electron mobility of 0.02 cm2 V-1 s-1 , and the feature of hot-exciton induced delayed fluorescence were obtained in 4'-DNADI. This work opens a new avenue for developing high electron mobility emissive organic semiconductors with efficient utilization of triplet excitons.
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Affiliation(s)
- Y Zhang
- National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.,Department of Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - C Gao
- National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - P Wang
- National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.,Department of Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
| | - Y Liu
- Department Key Laboratory of Rubber-Plastics, Ministry of Education/ Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber-plastics, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China
| | - Z Liu
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, 350108, China
| | - W Xie
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education) Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071, China
| | - H Xu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, Tianjin University & Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - Y Dang
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, Tianjin University & Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300072, China
| | - D Liu
- National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Z Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - S Yan
- Department Key Laboratory of Rubber-Plastics, Ministry of Education/ Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Rubber-plastics, Qingdao University of Science & Technology, Qingdao, 266042, China.,State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, China
| | - Z Wang
- Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China
| | - W Hu
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Department of Chemistry, School of Sciences, Tianjin University & Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering, Tianjin, 300072, China.,Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University, Binhai New City, 350207, China
| | - H Dong
- National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China.,Department of Chemistry, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China
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28
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Alvertis AM, Haber JB, Engel EA, Sharifzadeh S, Neaton JB. Phonon-Induced Localization of Excitons in Molecular Crystals from First Principles. PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 2023; 130:086401. [PMID: 36898125 DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.130.086401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 01/23/2023] [Indexed: 06/18/2023]
Abstract
The spatial extent of excitons in molecular systems underpins their photophysics and utility for optoelectronic applications. Phonons are reported to lead to both exciton localization and delocalization. However, a microscopic understanding of phonon-induced (de)localization is lacking, in particular, how localized states form, the role of specific vibrations, and the relative importance of quantum and thermal nuclear fluctuations. Here, we present a first-principles study of these phenomena in solid pentacene, a prototypical molecular crystal, capturing the formation of bound excitons, exciton-phonon coupling to all orders, and phonon anharmonicity, using density functional theory, the ab initio GW-Bethe-Salpeter equation approach, finite-difference, and path integral techniques. We find that for pentacene zero-point nuclear motion causes uniformly strong localization, with thermal motion providing additional localization only for Wannier-Mott-like excitons. Anharmonic effects drive temperature-dependent localization, and, while such effects prevent the emergence of highly delocalized excitons, we explore the conditions under which these might be realized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Antonios M Alvertis
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA
| | - Jonah B Haber
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA
| | - Edgar A Engel
- Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J.J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
| | - Sahar Sharifzadeh
- Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Boston University, Boston, 02215 Massachusetts, USA
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Boston University, Boston, 02215 Massachusetts, USA
| | - Jeffrey B Neaton
- Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
- Department of Physics, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA
- Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute at Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720 California, USA
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29
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Knepp ZJ, Masso GB, Fredin LA. Efficiently predicting directional carrier mobilities in organic materials with the Boltzmann transport equation. J Chem Phys 2023; 158:064704. [PMID: 36792516 DOI: 10.1063/5.0128125] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
Abstract
Describing charge carrier anisotropy in crystalline organic semiconductors with ab initio methods is challenging because of the weak intermolecular interactions that lead to both localized and delocalized charge transport mechanisms. Small polaron hopping models (localized) are generally used to describe materials with small charge carrier mobilities, while periodic band models (delocalized) are used to describe materials with high charge carrier mobilities. Here, we prove the advantage of applying the constant relaxation time approximation of the Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) to efficiently predict the anisotropic hole mobilities of several unsubstituted (anthracene, tetracene, pentacene, and hexacene) and substituted (2,6-diphenylanthracene, rubrene, and TIPS-pentacene) high-mobility n-acene single crystals. Several density functionals are used to optimize the crystals, and the composite density functional PBEsol0-3c/sol-def2-mSVP predicts the most experimentally similar geometries, adequate indirect bandgaps, and the theoretically consistent n-acene charge transport mobility trend. Similarities between BTE and Marcus mobilities are presented for each crystal. BTE and Marcus charge carrier mobilities computed at the same geometry result in similar mobility trends, differing mostly in materials with more substitutions or structurally complex substituents. By using a reduced number of calculations, BTE is able to predict anisotropic carrier mobilities efficiently and effectively for a range of high-mobility organic semiconductors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zachary J Knepp
- Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, 6 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA
| | - Gabriel B Masso
- Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, 6 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA
| | - Lisa A Fredin
- Department of Chemistry, Lehigh University, 6 E. Packer Ave., Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015, USA
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30
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Ren Y, Wang Y, Zhao M, Zhou Z, Zhang Q, Zhu Q, Wu K. Dynamics of Phonon-Assisted Holes Trapping and Transport over Chemical Defects in Polyethylene. J Phys Chem B 2023; 127:1039-1049. [PMID: 36662499 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcb.2c07005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023]
Abstract
Charge trapping and transport over chemical defects in polyethylene have significant impacts on its electrical and dielectric properties. However, the dynamics of this phenomenon and its underlying mechanisms remain unclear. To understand this fundamental aspect, we conducted a time-domain ab initio nonadiabatic molecular dynamics study of phonon-assisted holes dynamics in polyethylene over C═O and C-OH defect states. Our results suggest that the hole transfer and energy fluctuations substantially depend on temperature and local morphology. When the temperature decreases from 300 to 100 K, the hole transfer efficiency and the energy fluctuations are severely suppressed due to the weakened interactions between holes and phonons. Furthermore, amorphous polyethylene exhibits a severe suppression of the hole transfer process compared to crystalline polyethylene. An explanation for the influence of morphology on the hole transfer process can be found in the differences in the hole-phonon coupling and the electronic coupling between two chemical defect states in crystalline and amorphous polyethylene. Advancing the fundamental understanding of the dynamics of hole transfer over chemical effects in polymers is a key to improving their insulating properties for the next-generation high-voltage cables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuanyang Ren
- State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Yang Wang
- School of Electronics and Information, Xi'an Polytechnic University, 19 Jinhua South Road, Xi'an 710048, China
| | - Manqing Zhao
- School of Electronics and Information, Xi'an Polytechnic University, 19 Jinhua South Road, Xi'an 710048, China
| | - Zilin Zhou
- State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710049, China
| | - Qiankai Zhang
- School of Electronics and Information, Xi'an Polytechnic University, 19 Jinhua South Road, Xi'an 710048, China
| | - Qingdong Zhu
- State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company Electric Power Research Institute, 2000 Wangyue Road, Jinan 250001, China
| | - Kai Wu
- State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment, Xi'an Jiaotong University, 28 Xianning West Road, Xi'an 710049, China
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31
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Nagatomo T, Vats AK, Matsuo K, Oyama S, Okamoto N, Suzuki M, Koganezawa T, Fuki M, Masuo S, Ohta K, Yamada H, Kobori Y. Nonpolymer Organic Solar Cells: Microscopic Phonon Control to Suppress Nonradiative Voltage Loss via Charge-Separated State. ACS PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY AU 2022; 3:207-221. [PMID: 36968446 PMCID: PMC10037453 DOI: 10.1021/acsphyschemau.2c00049] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/27/2022] [Revised: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 12/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Recent remarkable developments on nonfullerene solar cells have reached a photoelectric conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18% by tuning the band energy levels in small molecular acceptors. In this regard, understanding the impact of small donor molecules on nonpolymer solar cells is essential. Here, we systematically investigated mechanisms of solar cell performance using diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-tetrabenzoporphyrin (BP) conjugates of C4-DPP-H2BP and C4-DPP-ZnBP, where C4 represents the butyl group substituted at the DPP unit as small p-type molecules, while an acceptor of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-buthylic acid methyl ester is employed. We clarified the microscopic origins of the photocarrier caused by phonon-assisted one-dimensional (1D) electron-hole dissociations at the donor-acceptor interface. Using a time-resolved electron paramagnetic resonance, we have characterized controlled charge-recombination by manipulating disorders in π-π donor stacking. This ensures carrier transport through stacking molecular conformations to suppress nonradiative voltage loss capturing specific interfacial radical pairs separated by 1.8 nm in bulk-heterojunction solar cells. We show that, while disordered lattice motions by the π-π stackings via zinc ligation are essential to enhance the entropy for charge dissociations at the interface, too much ordered crystallinity causes the backscattering phonon to reduce the open-circuit voltage by geminate charge-recombination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takaaki Nagatomo
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
| | - Ajendra K. Vats
- Division of Materials Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5, Takayama-cho, Ikoma, Nara630-0192, Japan
| | - Kyohei Matsuo
- Division of Materials Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5, Takayama-cho, Ikoma, Nara630-0192, Japan
| | - Shinya Oyama
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
| | - Naoya Okamoto
- Division of Materials Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5, Takayama-cho, Ikoma, Nara630-0192, Japan
| | - Mitsuharu Suzuki
- Division of Applied Chemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Osaka University, 2-1 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka565-0871, Japan
| | - Tomoyuki Koganezawa
- Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI), SPring-8, 1-1-1 Kouto, Sayo, Hyogo679-5198, Japan
| | - Masaaki Fuki
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
- Molecular Photoscience Research Center, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
| | - Sadahiro Masuo
- Department of Applied Chemistry for Environment, Kwansei Gakuin University, 2-1, Gakuen, Sanda, Hyogo669-1337, Japan
| | - Kaoru Ohta
- Molecular Photoscience Research Center, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
| | - Hiroko Yamada
- Division of Materials Science, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Nara Institute of Science and Technology, 8916-5, Takayama-cho, Ikoma, Nara630-0192, Japan
| | - Yasuhiro Kobori
- Department of Chemistry, Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
- Molecular Photoscience Research Center, Kobe University, 1-1, Rokkodai-cho, Nada, Kobe657-8501, Japan
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32
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Gan Y, Qin S, Du Q, Zhang Y, Zhao J, Li M, Wang A, Liu Y, Li S, Dong R, Zhang L, Chen X, Liu C, Wang W, Wang F. Ultrafast and Sensitive Self-Powered Photodetector Based on Graphene/Pentacene Single Crystal Heterostructure with Weak Light Detection Capacity. ADVANCED SCIENCE (WEINHEIM, BADEN-WURTTEMBERG, GERMANY) 2022; 9:e2204332. [PMID: 36285815 PMCID: PMC9762291 DOI: 10.1002/advs.202204332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 09/12/2022] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Organic materials exhibit efficient light absorption and low-temperature, large-scale processability, and have stimulated enormous research efforts for next-generation optoelectronics. While, high-performance organic devices with fast speed and high responsivity still face intractable challenges, due to their intrinsic limitations including finite carrier mobility and high exciton binding energy. Here an ultrafast and highly sensitive broadband phototransistor is demonstrated by integrating high-quality pentacene single crystal with monolayer graphene. Encouragingly, the -3 dB bandwidth can reach up to 26 kHz, which is a record-speed for such sensitized organic phototransistors. Enormous absorption, long exciton diffusion length of pentacene crystal, and efficient interfacial charge transfer enable a high responsivity of >105 A W-1 and specific detectivity of >1011 Jones. Moreover, self-powered weak-light detection is realized using a simple asymmetric configuration, and the obvious zero-bias photoresponses can be displayed even under 750 nW cm-2 light intensity. Excellent response speed and photoresponsivity enable high-speed image sensor capability in UV-Vis ranges. The results offer a practical strategy for constructing high-performance self-powered organic hybrid photodetectors, with strong applicability in wireless, weak-light detection, and video-frame-rate imaging applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuquan Gan
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Shuchao Qin
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Qianqian Du
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Yuting Zhang
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Jing Zhao
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Mengru Li
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Anran Wang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic MaterialsSchool of Electronic Science and EngineeringNanjing UniversityNanjing210093China
| | - Yunlong Liu
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Shuhong Li
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Ruixin Dong
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Linglong Zhang
- College of PhysicsNanjing University of Aeronautics and AstronauticsKey Laboratory of Aerospace Information Materials and Physics (NUAA)MIITNanjing211106China
| | - Xiaoqing Chen
- Key Laboratory of Light Field Manipulation and Information AcquisitionMinistry of Industry and Information Technologyand Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Optical Information TechnologySchool of Physical Science and TechnologyNorthwestern Polytechnical UniversityXi'an710129China
| | - Cailong Liu
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Wenjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Optical Communication Science and Technology of Shandong ProvinceSchool of Physical Science and Information EngineeringLiaocheng UniversityLiaocheng252059China
| | - Fengqiu Wang
- National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and Jiangsu Provincial Key Laboratory of Advanced Photonic and Electronic MaterialsSchool of Electronic Science and EngineeringNanjing UniversityNanjing210093China
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33
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Ashoka A, Gauriot N, Girija AV, Sawhney N, Sneyd AJ, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Sung J, Schnedermann C, Rao A. Direct observation of ultrafast singlet exciton fission in three dimensions. Nat Commun 2022; 13:5963. [PMID: 36216826 PMCID: PMC9551063 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-33647-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/11/2022] [Accepted: 09/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
We present quantitative ultrafast interferometric pump-probe microscopy capable of tracking of photoexcitations with sub-10 nm spatial precision in three dimensions with 15 fs temporal resolution, through retrieval of the full transient photoinduced complex refractive index. We use this methodology to study the spatiotemporal dynamics of the quantum coherent photophysical process of ultrafast singlet exciton fission. Measurements on microcrystalline pentacene films grown on glass (SiO2) and boron nitride (hBN) reveal a 25 nm, 70 fs expansion of the joint-density-of-states along the crystal a,c-axes accompanied by a 6 nm, 115 fs change in the exciton density along the crystal b-axis. We propose that photogenerated singlet excitons expand along the direction of maximal orbital π-overlap in the crystal a,c-plane to form correlated triplet pairs, which subsequently electronically decouples into free triplets along the crystal b-axis due to molecular sliding motion of neighbouring pentacene molecules. Our methodology lays the foundation for the study of three dimensional transport on ultrafast timescales.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arjun Ashoka
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Nicolas Gauriot
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Aswathy V. Girija
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Nipun Sawhney
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Alexander J. Sneyd
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Kenji Watanabe
- grid.21941.3f0000 0001 0789 6880Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044 Japan
| | - Takashi Taniguchi
- grid.21941.3f0000 0001 0789 6880International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044 Japan
| | - Jooyoung Sung
- grid.417736.00000 0004 0438 6721Department of Emerging Materials Science, DGIST, Daegu, 42988 Republic of Korea
| | - Christoph Schnedermann
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
| | - Akshay Rao
- grid.5335.00000000121885934Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, J. J. Thomson Avenue, Cambridge, CB3 0HE UK
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34
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Ge Y, Li W, Ren J, Shuai Z. Computational Method for Evaluating the Thermoelectric Power Factor for Organic Materials Modeled by the Holstein Model: A Time-Dependent Density Matrix Renormalization Group Formalism. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:6437-6446. [PMID: 36174220 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00651] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
Organic/polymeric materials are of emerging importance for thermoelectric conversion. The soft nature of these materials implies strong electron-phonon coupling, often leading to carrier localization. This poses great challenges for the conventional Boltzmann transport description based on relaxation time approximation and band structure calculations. In this work, combining the Kubo formula with the finite-temperature time-dependent density matrix renormalization group (FT-TD-DMRG) in the grand canonical ensemble, we developed a nearly exact algorithm to calculate the thermoelectric power factor PF = α2 σ, where α is the Seebeck coefficient and σ is the electrical conductivity, and apply the algorithm to Holstein Hamiltonian with electron-phonon coupling to model organic materials. Our algorithm can provide a unified description covering the weak coupling limit described by the bandlike Boltzmann transport to the strong coupling hopping limit.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yufei Ge
- MOE Key Laboratory of Organic OptoElectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, 100084Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Weitang Li
- MOE Key Laboratory of Organic OptoElectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, 100084Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Jiajun Ren
- MOE Key Laboratory of Theoretical and Computational Photochemistry, College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, 100875Beijing, P. R. China
| | - Zhigang Shuai
- MOE Key Laboratory of Organic OptoElectronics and Molecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, 100084Beijing, P. R. China.,School of Science and Engineering, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen518172, Guangdong, P. R. China
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35
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Balzer D, Kassal I. Even a little delocalization produces large kinetic enhancements of charge-separation efficiency in organic photovoltaics. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2022; 8:eabl9692. [PMID: 35960797 PMCID: PMC9374333 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abl9692] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2022] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
In organic photovoltaics, charges can separate efficiently even if their Coulomb attraction is an order of magnitude greater than the available thermal energy. Delocalization has been suggested to explain this fact, because it could increase the initial separation of charges in the charge-transfer (CT) state, reducing their attraction. However, understanding the mechanism requires a kinetic model of delocalized charge separation, which has proven difficult because it involves tracking the correlated quantum-mechanical motion of the electron and the hole in large simulation boxes required for disordered materials. Here, we report the first three-dimensional simulations of charge-separation dynamics in the presence of disorder, delocalization, and polaron formation, finding that even slight delocalization, across less than two molecules, can substantially enhance the charge-separation efficiency, even starting with thermalized CT states. Delocalization does not enhance efficiency by reducing the Coulomb attraction; instead, the enhancement is a kinetic effect produced by the increased overlap of electronic states.
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36
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Peng WT, Brey D, Giannini S, Dell’Angelo D, Burghardt I, Blumberger J. Exciton Dissociation in a Model Organic Interface: Excitonic State-Based Surface Hopping versus Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:7105-7112. [PMID: 35900333 PMCID: PMC9376959 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01928] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/22/2022] [Accepted: 07/19/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Quantum dynamical simulations are essential for a molecular-level understanding of light-induced processes in optoelectronic materials, but they tend to be computationally demanding. We introduce an efficient mixed quantum-classical nonadiabatic molecular dynamics method termed eXcitonic state-based Surface Hopping (X-SH), which propagates the electronic Schrödinger equation in the space of local excitonic and charge-transfer electronic states, coupled to the thermal motion of the nuclear degrees of freedom. The method is applied to exciton decay in a 1D model of a fullerene-oligothiophene junction, and the results are compared to the ones from a fully quantum dynamical treatment at the level of the Multilayer Multiconfigurational Time-Dependent Hartree (ML-MCTDH) approach. Both methods predict that charge-separated states are formed on the 10-100 fs time scale via multiple "hot-exciton dissociation" pathways. The results demonstrate that X-SH is a promising tool advancing the simulation of photoexcited processes from the molecular to the true nanomaterials scale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wei-Tao Peng
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Dominik Brey
- Institute
of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Goethe
University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 7, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - David Dell’Angelo
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Irene Burghardt
- Institute
of Physical and Theoretical Chemistry, Goethe
University Frankfurt, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 7, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department
of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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37
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Sneyd A, Beljonne D, Rao A. A New Frontier in Exciton Transport: Transient Delocalization. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:6820-6830. [PMID: 35857739 PMCID: PMC9340810 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c01133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/18/2022] [Accepted: 07/18/2022] [Indexed: 05/20/2023]
Abstract
Efficient exciton transport is crucial to the application of organic semiconductors (OSCs) in light-harvesting devices. While the physics of exciton transport in highly disordered media is well-explored, the description of transport in structurally and energetically ordered OSCs is less established, despite such materials being favorable for devices. In this Perspective we describe and highlight recent research pointing toward a highly efficient exciton transport mechanism which occurs in ordered OSCs, transient delocalization. Here, exciton-phonon couplings play a critical role in allowing localized exciton states to temporarily access higher-energy delocalized states whereupon they move large distances. The mechanism shows great promise for facilitating long-range exciton transport and may allow for improved device efficiencies and new device architectures. However, many fundamental questions on transient delocalization remain to be answered. These questions and suggested next steps are summarized.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander
J. Sneyd
- Department
of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University
of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory
for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University
of Mons, Mons 7000, Belgium
| | - Akshay Rao
- Department
of Physics, Cavendish Laboratory, University
of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, United Kingdom
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38
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Vong D, Nematiaram T, Dettmann MA, Murrey TL, Cavalcante LSR, Gurses SM, Radhakrishnan D, Daemen LL, Anthony JE, Koski KJ, Kronawitter CX, Troisi A, Moulé AJ. Quantitative Hole Mobility Simulation and Validation in Substituted Acenes. J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:5530-5537. [PMID: 35695809 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.2c00898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Knowledge of the full phonon spectrum is essential to accurately calculate the dynamic disorder (σ) and hole mobility (μh) in organic semiconductors (OSCs). However, most vibrational spectroscopy techniques under-measure the phonons, thus limiting the phonon validation. Here, we measure and model the full phonon spectrum using multiple spectroscopic techniques and predict μh using σ from only the Γ-point and the full Brillouin zone (FBZ). We find that only inelastic neutron scattering (INS) provides validation of all phonon modes, and that σ in a set of small molecule semiconductors can be miscalculated by up to 28% when comparing Γ-point against FBZ calculations. A subsequent mode analysis shows that many modes contribute to σ and that no single mode dominates. Our results demonstrate the importance of a thoroughly validated phonon calculation, and a need to develop design rules considering the full spectrum of phonon modes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Vong
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5270, United States
| | - Tahereh Nematiaram
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZD Liverpool, U.K
| | - Makena A Dettmann
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5270, United States
| | - Tucker L Murrey
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5270, United States
| | - Lucas S R Cavalcante
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5294, United States
| | - Sadi M Gurses
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5294, United States
| | - Dhanya Radhakrishnan
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Luke L Daemen
- Oak Ridge National Lab, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831, United States
| | - John E Anthony
- University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40506-0055, United States
| | - Kristie J Koski
- Department of Chemistry, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616, United States
| | - Coleman X Kronawitter
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5294, United States
| | - Alessandro Troisi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool, L69 7ZD Liverpool, U.K
| | - Adam J Moulé
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, California 95616-5294, United States
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39
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Ahart CS, Rosso KM, Blumberger J. Implementation and Validation of Constrained Density Functional Theory Forces in the CP2K Package. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:4438-4446. [PMID: 35700315 PMCID: PMC9281399 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.2c00284] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Constrained density
functional theory (CDFT) is a powerful tool
for the prediction of electron transfer parameters in condensed phase
simulations at a reasonable computational cost. In this work we present
an extension to CDFT in the popular mixed Gaussian/plane wave electronic
structure package CP2K, implementing the additional force terms arising
from a constraint based on Hirshfeld charge partitioning. This improves
upon the existing Becke partitioning scheme, which is prone to give
unphysical atomic charges. We verify this implementation for a variety
of systems: electron transfer in (H2O)2+ in a vacuum, electron tunnelling
between oxygen vacancy centers in solid MgO, and electron self-exchange
in aqueous Ru2+–Ru3+. We find good agreement
with previous plane-wave CDFT results for the same systems, but at
a significantly lower computational cost, and we discuss the general
reliability of condensed phase CDFT calculations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christian S Ahart
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Kevin M Rosso
- Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington 99354, United States
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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40
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Giannini S, Peng WT, Cupellini L, Padula D, Carof A, Blumberger J. Exciton transport in molecular organic semiconductors boosted by transient quantum delocalization. Nat Commun 2022; 13:2755. [PMID: 35589694 PMCID: PMC9120088 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-30308-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Designing molecular materials with very large exciton diffusion lengths would remove some of the intrinsic limitations of present-day organic optoelectronic devices. Yet, the nature of excitons in these materials is still not sufficiently well understood. Here we present Frenkel exciton surface hopping, an efficient method to propagate excitons through truly nano-scale materials by solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation coupled to nuclear motion. We find a clear correlation between diffusion constant and quantum delocalization of the exciton. In materials featuring some of the highest diffusion lengths to date, e.g. the non-fullerene acceptor Y6, the exciton propagates via a transient delocalization mechanism, reminiscent to what was recently proposed for charge transport. Yet, the extent of delocalization is rather modest, even in Y6, and found to be limited by the relatively large exciton reorganization energy. On this basis we chart out a path for rationally improving exciton transport in organic optoelectronic materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuele Giannini
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK.
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc 20, 7000, Mons, Belgium.
| | - Wei-Tao Peng
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK
| | - Lorenzo Cupellini
- Dipartimento di Chimica e Chimica Industriale, Universitá di Pisa, Via G. Moruzzi 13, 56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Daniele Padula
- Dipartimento di Biotecnologie, Chimica e Farmacia, Universitá di Siena, Via A. Moro 2, 53100, Siena, Italy
| | - Antoine Carof
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie Théoriques, CNRS, UMR No. 7019, Université de Lorraine, BP 239, 54506, Vandoeuvre-lés-Nancy Cedex, France
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, WC1E 6BT, London, UK.
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41
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Giannini S, Blumberger J. Charge Transport in Organic Semiconductors: The Perspective from Nonadiabatic Molecular Dynamics. Acc Chem Res 2022; 55:819-830. [PMID: 35196456 PMCID: PMC8928466 DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.1c00675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 16.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/24/2022]
Abstract
![]()
Organic semiconductors (OSs) are an exciting
class of materials
that have enabled disruptive technologies in this century including
large-area electronics, flexible displays, and inexpensive solar cells.
All of these technologies rely on the motion of electrical charges
within the material and the diffusivity of these charges critically
determines their performance. In this respect, it is remarkable that
the nature of the charge transport in these materials has puzzled
the community for so many years, even for apparently simple systems
such as molecular single crystals: some experiments would better fit
an interpretation in terms of a localized particle picture, akin to
molecular or biological electron transfer, while others are in better
agreement with a wave-like interpretation, more akin to band transport
in metals. Exciting recent progress in the theory and simulation
of charge
carrier transport in OSs has now led to a unified understanding of
these disparate findings, and this Account will review one of these
tools developed in our laboratory in some detail: direct charge carrier
propagation by quantum-classical nonadiabatic molecular dynamics.
One finds that even in defect-free crystals the charge carrier can
either localize on a single molecule or substantially delocalize over
a large number of molecules depending on the relative strength of
electronic couplings between the molecules, reorganization, or charge
trapping energy of the molecule and thermal fluctuations of electronic
couplings and site energies, also known as electron–phonon
couplings. Our simulations predict that in molecular OSs exhibiting
some of
the highest measured charge mobilities to date, the charge carrier
forms “flickering” polarons, objects that are delocalized
over 10–20 molecules on average and that constantly change
their shape and extension under the influence of thermal disorder.
The flickering polarons propagate through the OS by short (≈10
fs long) bursts of the wave function that lead to an expansion of
the polaron to about twice its size, resulting in spatial displacement,
carrier diffusion, charge mobility, and electrical conductivity. Arguably
best termed “transient delocalization”, this mechanistic
scenario is very similar to the one assumed in transient localization
theory and supports its assertions. We also review recent applications
of our methodology to charge transport in disordered and nanocrystalline
samples, which allows us to understand the influence of defects and
grain boundaries on the charge propagation. Unfortunately, the
energetically favorable packing structures of
typical OSs, whether molecular or polymeric, places fundamental constraints
on charge mobilities/electronic conductivity compared to inorganic
semiconductors, which limits their range of applications. In this
Account, we review the design rules that could pave the way for new
very high-mobility OS materials and we argue that 2D covalent organic
frameworks are one of the most promising candidates to satisfy them. We conclude that our nonadiabatic dynamics method is a powerful
approach for predicting charge carrier transport in crystalline and
disordered materials. We close with a brief outlook on extensions
of the method to exciton transport, dissociation, and recombination.
This will bring us a step closer to an understanding of the birth,
survival, and annihiliation of charges at interfaces of optoelectronic
devices.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuele Giannini
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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42
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Dilmurat R, Prodhan S, Wang L, Beljonne D. Thermally activated intra-chain charge transport in high charge-carrier mobility copolymers. J Chem Phys 2022; 156:084115. [DOI: 10.1063/5.0082569] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Disordered or even seemingly amorphous, donor–acceptor type, conjugated copolymers with high charge-carrier mobility have emerged as a new class of functional materials, where transport along the conjugated backbone is key. Here, we report on non-adiabatic molecular dynamics simulations of charge-carrier transport along chains of poly (indacenodithiophene-co-benzothiadiazole), within a model Hamiltonian parameterized against first-principles calculations. We predict thermally activated charge transport associated with a slightly twisted ground-state conformation, on par with experimental results. Our results also demonstrate that the energy mismatch between the hole on the donor vs the acceptor units of the copolymer drives localization of the charge carriers and limits the intra-chain charge-carrier mobility. We predict that room-temperature mobility values in excess of 10 cm2 V−1 s−1 can be achieved through proper chemical tuning of the component monomer units.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rishat Dilmurat
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, 7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Suryoday Prodhan
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, 7000 Mons, Belgium
| | - Linjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Place du Parc, 20, 7000 Mons, Belgium
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43
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Roosta S, Galami F, Elstner M, Xie W. Efficient Surface Hopping Approach for Modeling Charge Transport in Organic Semiconductors. J Chem Theory Comput 2022; 18:1264-1274. [PMID: 35179894 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jctc.1c00944] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
The trajectory surface hopping (TSH) method is nowadays widely applied to study the charge/exciton transport process in organic semiconductors (OSCs). In the present study, we systematically examine the performance of two approximations in the fewest switched surface hopping (FSSH) simulations for charge transport (CT) in several representative OSCs. These approximations include (i) the substitution of the nuclear velocity scaling along the nonadiabatic coupling vector (NCV) by rescaling the hopping probability with the Boltzmann factor (Boltzmann correction (BC)) and (ii) a phenomenological approach to treat the quantum feedback from the electronic system to the nuclear system (implicit charge relaxation (IR)) in the OSCs. We find that charge mobilities computed by FSSH-BC-IR are in very good agreement with the mobilities obtained by standard FSSH simulations with explicit charge relaxation (FSSH-ER), however, at reduced computational cost. A key parameter determining the charge carrier mobility is the reorganization energy, which is sensitively dependent on DFT functionals applied. By employing the IR approximation, the FSSH method allows systematic investigation of the effect of the reorganization energies obtained by different DFT functionals like B3LYP or ωB97XD on CT in OSCs. In comparison to the experiments, FSSH-BC-IR using ωB97XD reorganization energy underestimates mobilities in the low-coupling regime, which may indicate the lack of nuclear quantum effects (e.g., zero point energy (ZPE)) in the simulations. The mobilities obtained by FSSH-BC-IR using the B3LYP reorganization energy agree well with experimental values in 3 orders of magnitude. The accidental agreement may be the consequence of the underestimation of the reorganization energy by the B3LYP functional, which compensates for the neglect of nuclear ZPE in the simulations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sara Roosta
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Farhad Galami
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Marcus Elstner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Kaiserstrasse 12, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany.,Institute of Biological Interfaces (IBG-2), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Weiwei Xie
- Key Laboratory of Advanced Energy Materials Chemistry (Ministry of Education), Renewable Energy Conversion and Storage Center, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China
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44
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Wang Z, Dong J, Qiu J, Wang L. All-Atom Nonadiabatic Dynamics Simulation of Hybrid Graphene Nanoribbons Based on Wannier Analysis and Machine Learning. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2022; 14:22929-22940. [PMID: 35100503 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c22181] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Trajectory surface hopping combined with ab initio electronic structure calculations is a popular and powerful approach for on-the-fly nonadiabatic dynamics simulations. For large systems, however, this remains a significant challenge because of the unaffordable computational cost of large-scale electronic structure calculations. Here, we present an efficient divide-and-conquer approach to construct the system Hamiltonian based on Wannier analysis and machine learning. In detail, the large system under investigation is first decomposed into small building blocks, and then all possible segments formed by building blocks within a cutoff distance are found out. Ab initio molecular dynamics is carried out to generate a sequence of geometries for each equivalent segment with periodicity. The Hamiltonian matrices in the maximum localized Wannier function (MLWF) basis are obtained for all geometries and utilized to train artificial neural networks (ANNs) for the structure-dependent Hamiltonian elements. Taking advantage of the orthogonality and spatial locality of MLWFs, the one-electron Hamiltonian of a large system at arbitrary geometry can be directly constructed by the trained ANNs. As demonstrations, we study charge transport in a zigzag graphene nanoribbon (GNR), a coved GNR, and a series of hybrid GNRs with a state-of-the-art surface hopping method. The interplay between delocalized and localized states is found to determine the electron dynamics in hybrid GNRs. Our approach has successfully studied GNRs with >10 000 atoms, paving the way for efficient and reliable all-atom nonadiabatic dynamics simulation of general systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zedong Wang
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Jiawei Dong
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Jing Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - Linjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
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45
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van der Lee A, Polentarutti M, Roche GH, Dautel OJ, Wantz G, Castet F, Muccioli L. Temperature-Dependent Structural Phase Transition in Rubrene Single Crystals: The Missing Piece from the Charge Mobility Puzzle? J Phys Chem Lett 2022; 13:406-411. [PMID: 34986305 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c03221] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Accurate structural models for rubrene, the benchmark organic semiconductor, derived from synchrotron X-ray data in the temperature range of 100-300 K, show that its cofacially stacked tetracene backbone units remain blocked with respect to each other upon cooling to 200 K and start to slip below that temperature. The release of the blocked slippage occurs at approximately the same temperature as the hole mobility crossover. The blocking between 200 and 300 K is caused by a negative correlation between the relatively small thermal expansion along the crystallographic b-axis and the relatively large widening of the angle between herringbone-stacked tetracene units. DFT calculations reveal that this blocked slippage is accompanied by a discontinuity in the variation with temperature of the electronic couplings associated with hole transport between cofacially stacked tetracene backbones.
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Affiliation(s)
- Arie van der Lee
- IEM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34095 Montpellier, France
| | - Maurizio Polentarutti
- Elettra, Sincrotrone Trieste S.C.p.A., Strada Statale 14 - km 163,5 in AREA Science Park, Basovizza, 34149 Trieste, Italy
| | - Gilles H Roche
- ICGM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34293 Montpellier, France
- Université de Bordeaux, IMS, CNRS, UMR 5218, Bordeaux INP, ENSCBP, 33405 Talence, France
| | - Olivier J Dautel
- ICGM, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, ENSCM, 34293 Montpellier, France
| | - Guillaume Wantz
- Université de Bordeaux, IMS, CNRS, UMR 5218, Bordeaux INP, ENSCBP, 33405 Talence, France
| | - Frédéric Castet
- Université de Bordeaux, Institut des Sciences Moléculaires (UMR5255 CNRS), 351 cours de la Libération, F-33405 Talence, France
| | - Luca Muccioli
- Department of Industrial Chemistry, University of Bologna, 40136 Bologna, Italy
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46
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Ziogos OG, Blumberger J. Ultrafast estimation of electronic couplings for electron transfer between pi-conjugated organic molecules. II. J Chem Phys 2021; 155:244110. [PMID: 34972358 DOI: 10.1063/5.0076555] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The development of highly efficient methods for the calculation of electronic coupling matrix elements between the electron donor and acceptor is an important goal in theoretical organic semiconductor research. In Paper I [F. Gajdos, S. Valner, F. Hoffmann, J. Spencer, M. Breuer, A. Kubas, M. Dupuis, and J. Blumberger, J. Chem. Theory Comput. 10, 4653 (2014)], we introduced the analytic overlap method (AOM) for this purpose, which is an ultrafast electronic coupling estimator parameterized to and orders of magnitude faster than density functional theory (DFT) calculations at a reasonably small loss in accuracy. In this work, we reparameterize and extend the AOM to molecules containing nitrogen, oxygen, fluorine, and sulfur heteroatoms using 921 dimer configurations from the recently introduced HAB79 dataset. We find again a very good linear correlation between the frontier orbital overlap, calculated ultrafast in an optimized minimum Slater basis, and DFT reference electronic couplings. The new parameterization scheme is shown to be transferable to sulfur-containing polyaromatic hydrocarbons in experimentally resolved dimeric configurations. Our extension of the AOM enables high-throughput screening of very large databases of chemically diverse organic crystal structures and the application of computationally intense non-adiabatic molecular dynamics methods to charge transport in state-of-the-art organic semiconductors, e.g., non-fullerene acceptors.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orestis George Ziogos
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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47
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Ziogos OG, Kubas A, Futera Z, Xie W, Elstner M, Blumberger J. HAB79: A new molecular dataset for benchmarking DFT and DFTB electronic couplings against high-level ab initio calculations. J Chem Phys 2021; 155:234115. [PMID: 34937363 DOI: 10.1063/5.0076010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023] Open
Abstract
A new molecular dataset called HAB79 is introduced to provide ab initio reference values for electronic couplings (transfer integrals) and to benchmark density functional theory (DFT) and density functional tight-binding (DFTB) calculations. The HAB79 dataset is composed of 79 planar heterocyclic polyaromatic hydrocarbon molecules frequently encountered in organic (opto)electronics, arranged to 921 structurally diverse dimer configurations. We show that CASSCF/NEVPT2 with a minimal active space provides a robust reference method that can be applied to the relatively large molecules of the dataset. Electronic couplings are largest for cofacial dimers, in particular, sulfur-containing polyaromatic hydrocarbons, with values in excess of 0.5 eV, followed by parallel displaced cofacial dimers. V-shaped dimer motifs, often encountered in the herringbone layers of organic crystals, exhibit medium-sized couplings, whereas T-shaped dimers have the lowest couplings. DFT values obtained from the projector operator-based diabatization (POD) method are initially benchmarked against the smaller databases HAB11 (HAB7-) and found to systematically improve when climbing Jacob's ladder, giving mean relative unsigned errors (MRUEs) of 27.7% (26.3%) for the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) functional BLYP, 20.7% (15.8%) for hybrid functional B3LYP, and 5.2% (7.5%) for the long-range corrected hybrid functional omega-B97X. Cost-effective POD in combination with a GGA functional and very efficient DFTB calculations on the dimers of the HAB79 database give a good linear correlation with the CASSCF/NEVPT2 reference data, which, after scaling with a multiplicative constant, gives reasonably small MRUEs of 17.9% and 40.1%, respectively, bearing in mind that couplings in HAB79 vary over 4 orders of magnitude. The ab initio reference data reported here are expected to be useful for benchmarking other DFT or semi-empirical approaches for electronic coupling calculations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Orestis George Ziogos
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
| | - Adam Kubas
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences, Kasprzaka 44/52, 01-224 Warsaw, Poland
| | - Zdenek Futera
- Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, 370 05 Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
| | - Weiwei Xie
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Marcus Elstner
- Institute of Physical Chemistry, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom
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Ellis M, Yang H, Giannini S, Ziogos OG, Blumberger J. Impact of Nanoscale Morphology on Charge Carrier Delocalization and Mobility in an Organic Semiconductor. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2021; 33:e2104852. [PMID: 34558126 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202104852] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/24/2021] [Revised: 08/11/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
A central challenge of organic semiconductor research is to make cheap, disordered materials that exhibit high electrical conductivity. Unfortunately, this endeavor is hampered by the poor fundamental understanding of the relationship between molecular packing structure and charge carrier mobility. Here a novel computational methodology is presented that fills this gap. Using a melt-quench procedure it is shown that amorphous pentacene spontaneously self-assembles to nanocrystalline structures that, at long quench times, form the characteristic herringbone layer of the single crystal. Quantum dynamical simulations of electron hole transport show a clear correlation between the crystallinity of the sample, the quantum delocalization, and the mobility of the charge carrier. Surprisingly, the long-held belief that charge carriers form relatively localized polarons in disordered OS is only valid for fully amorphous structures-for nanocrystalline and crystalline samples, significant charge carrier delocalization over several nanometers occurs that underpins their improved conductivities. The good agreement with experimentally available data makes the presented methodology a robust computational tool for the predictive engineering of disordered organic materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew Ellis
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre London, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Hui Yang
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre London, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre London, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Orestis G Ziogos
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre London, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Jochen Blumberger
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Thomas Young Centre London, University College London, Gower Street, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
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Omar ÖH, Del Cueto M, Nematiaram T, Troisi A. High-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics: a comparative study of alternative strategies. JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY. C 2021; 9:13557-13583. [PMID: 34745630 PMCID: PMC8515942 DOI: 10.1039/d1tc03256a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 09/13/2021] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
We present a review of the field of high-throughput virtual screening for organic electronics materials focusing on the sequence of methodological choices that determine each virtual screening protocol. These choices are present in all high-throughput virtual screenings and addressing them systematically will lead to optimised workflows and improve their applicability. We consider the range of properties that can be computed and illustrate how their accuracy can be determined depending on the quality and size of the experimental datasets. The approaches to generate candidates for virtual screening are also extremely varied and their relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed. The analysis of high-throughput virtual screening is almost never limited to the identification of top candidates and often new patterns and structure-property relations are the most interesting findings of such searches. The review reveals a very dynamic field constantly adapting to match an evolving landscape of applications, methodologies and datasets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ömer H Omar
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
| | - Marcos Del Cueto
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
| | | | - Alessandro Troisi
- Department of Chemistry, University of Liverpool Liverpool L69 3BX UK
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Prodhan S, Giannini S, Wang L, Beljonne D. Long-Range Interactions Boost Singlet Exciton Diffusion in Nanofibers of π-Extended Polymer Chains. J Phys Chem Lett 2021; 12:8188-8193. [PMID: 34415752 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c02275] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
Raising the distance covered by singlet excitons during their lifetimes to values maximizing light absorption (a few hundred nm) would solve the exciton diffusion bottleneck issue and lift the constraint for fine (∼10 nm) phase segregation in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. In that context, the recent report of highly ordered conjugated polymer nanofibers featuring singlet exciton diffusion length, LD, in excess of 300 nm is both appealing and intriguing [Jin, X.; et al. Science 2018, 360 (6391), 897-900]. Here, on the basis of nonadiabatic molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate that singlet exciton diffusion in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) fibers is highly sensitive to the interplay between delocalization along the polymer chains and long-range interactions along the stacks. Remarkably, the diffusion coefficient is predicted to rocket by 3 orders of magnitude when going beyond nearest-neighbor intermolecular interactions in fibers of extended (30-mer) polymer chains and to be resilient to interchain energetic and positional disorders.
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Affiliation(s)
- Suryoday Prodhan
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons 7000, Belgium
| | - Samuele Giannini
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons 7000, Belgium
| | - Linjun Wang
- Key Laboratory of Excited-State Materials of Zhejiang Province, Department of Chemistry, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China
| | - David Beljonne
- Laboratory for Chemistry of Novel Materials, University of Mons, Mons 7000, Belgium
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