15 research outputs found
Interplay Between Mixed and Pure Exciton States Controls Singlet Fission in Rubrene Single Crystals
Singlet fission (SF) is a multielectron process in which one singlet exciton
S converts into a pair of triplet excitons T+T. SF is widely studied as it may
help overcome the Shockley-Queisser efficiency limit for semiconductor
photovoltaic cells. To elucidate and control the SF mechanism, great attention
has been given to the identification of intermediate states in SF materials,
which often appear elusive due to the complexity and fast timescales of the SF
process. Here, we apply 10fs-1ms transient absorption techniques to high-purity
rubrene single crystals to disentangle the intrinsic fission dynamics from the
effects of defects and grain boundaries and to identify reliably the fission
intermediates. We show that above-gap excitation directly generates a hybrid
vibronically assisted mixture of singlet state and triplet-pair multiexciton
[S:TT], which rapidly (<100fs) and coherently branches into pure singlet or
triplet excitations. The relaxation of [S:TT] to S is followed by a relatively
slow and temperature-activated (48 meV activation energy) incoherent fission
process. The SF competing pathways and intermediates revealed here unify the
observations and models presented in previous studies of SF in rubrene and
propose alternative strategies for the development of SF-enhanced photovoltaic
materials
\u3ci\u3en\u3c/i\u3e-Type Charge Transport in Heavily \u3ci\u3ep\u3c/i\u3e-Doped Polymers
It is commonly assumed that charge-carrier transport in doped Ļ-conjugated polymers is dominated by one type of charge carrier, either holes or electrons, as determined by the chemistry of the dopant. Here, through Seebeck coefficient and Hall effect measurements, we show that mobile electrons contribute substantially to charge-carrier transport in Ļ-conjugated polymers that are heavily p-doped with strong electron acceptors. Specifically, the Seebeck coefficient of several p-doped polymers changes sign from positive to negative as the concentration of the oxidizing agents FeCl3 or NOBF4 increase, and Hall effect measurements for the same p-doped polymers reveal that electrons become the dominant delocalized charge carriers. Ultraviolet and inverse photoelectron spectroscopy measurements show that doping with oxidizing agents results in elimination of the transport gap at high doping concentrations. This approach of heavy p-type doping is demonstrated to provide a promising route to high-performance n-type organic thermoelectric materials
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High-Quality Graphene Using Boudouard Reaction
Following the game-changing high-pressure CO (HiPco) process that established the first facile route toward large-scale production of single-walled carbon nanotubes, CO synthesis of cm-sized graphene crystals of ultra-high purity grown during tens of minutes is proposed. The Boudouard reaction serves for the first time to produce individual monolayer structures on the surface of a metal catalyst, thereby providing a chemical vapor deposition technique free from molecular and atomic hydrogen as well as vacuum conditions. This approach facilitates inhibition of the graphene nucleation from the CO/CO2 mixture and maintains a high growth rate of graphene seeds reaching large-scale monocrystals. Unique features of the Boudouard reaction coupled with CO-driven catalyst engineering ensure not only suppression of the second layer growth but also provide a simple and reliable technique for surface cleaning. Aside from being a novel carbon source, carbon monoxide ensures peculiar modification of catalyst and in general opens avenues for breakthrough graphene-catalyst composite production
Critical assessment of charge mobility extraction in FETs
Mobility is an important charge-transport parameter in organic, inorganic and hybrid semiconductors. We outline some of the common pitfalls of mobility extraction from field-effect transistor (FET) measurements and propose practical recommendations to avoid reporting erroneous mobilities in publications.1160Nsciescopu
Polarization-Dependent Photoinduced Bias-Stress Effect in Single-Crystal Organic Field-Effect Transistors
Photoinduced charge transfer between semiconductors and gate dielectrics can occur in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs) operating under illumination, leading to a pronounced bias-stress effect in devices that are normally stable while operating in the dark. Here, we report an observation of a'polarization-dependent photoinduced bias-stress effect in two" prototypical single-crystal OFETs, based on rubrene and tetraphenylbis(indolo{l,2-alpha})quinolin. We find that the decay rate of the source-drain current in these OFETs under, illumination is a periodic function of the polarization angle of incident photoexcitation with respect to the crystal axes, with a periodicity of n. The angular positions of maxima and minima of the bias-stress rate match those of the optical absorption coefficient of the corresponding crystals. The analysis of the effect shows that it stems from a charge transfer of "hot" holes, photogenerated in the crystal within a very short thermafization length (MLT mu m) from the semiconductor-dielectric interface. The observed phenomenon is a type of intrinsic structure-property relationship, revealing how molecular packing affects parameter drift in organic transistors under illumination. We also demonstrate that a photoinduced charge transfer in OFETs can be used for recording rewritable accumulation channels with an optically defined geometry and resolution, which can be used in a number of potential applications.113sciescopu
Photon Upconversion in Crystalline Rubrene: Resonant Enhancement by an Interband State
Tripletātriplet
exciton annihilation after sensitization of the triplet states by
a near-infrared (NIR)-absorbing sensitizer enables rubrene to function
as a photon upconversion (UC) material. In this paper, we demonstrate
an alternate pathway to NIR upconversion in pristine rubrene crystals:
resonantly enhanced two-photon absorption via a weakly allowed interband
state. We find that all crystalline rubrene samples exhibit NIR-to-visible
upconversion that can be easily observed by eye under low-intensity
(20 W/cm<sup>2</sup>) continuous wave excitation. The amount of continuous
wave photoluminescence (PL) is comparable to what is observed under
femtosecond pulsed excitation with the same average intensity. A wide
range of excitation intensities (<i>I</i>) for the PL power
dependence are explored and careful fitting of the intensity dependence
of the upconverted PL shows that it has an approximate <i>I</i><sup>4</sup> ā <i>I</i><sup>2</sup> transition.
Moreover, there is a pronounced dependence of the per-pulse upconverted
PL signal on the laser repetition rate. A four-state kinetic model
with a long-lived (ā¼1 Ī¼s) interband state that takes
into account fission and fusion dynamics can reproduce both the <i>I</i><sup>4</sup> ā <i>I</i><sup>2</sup> transition
and the dependence of the PL on pulse repetition rate. The modeling
suggests that this interband state arises from a low-concentration
species, possibly a crystal defect or defective rubrene molecules.
Several other polyacene crystals (tetracene, diphenylhexatriene, and
perylene) measured under the same conditions did not exhibit similar
behavior. The observation of resonantly enhanced upconverted PL without
the addition of chemically distinct sensitizers suggests that interband
states in organic molecular crystals can generate new and possibly
useful photophysical behavior
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Two-Dimensional Copper Iodide-Based InorganicāOrganic Hybrid Semiconductors: Synthesis, Structures, and Optical and Transport Properties
A group of copper iodide-based hybrid semiconductors with the general formula of 2D-CuI(L)0.5 (L = organic ligands) are synthesized and structurally characterized. All compounds are two-dimensional (2D) networks made of one-dimensional (1D) copper iodide staircase chains that are interconnected by bidentate nitrogen-containing ligands. Results from optical absorption and emission experiments and density functional theory (DFT) calculations reveal that their photoluminescence (PL) can be systematically tuned by adjusting the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energies of the organic ligands. Charge carrier transport measurements were carried out for the first time on single crystals of selected 2D-CuI(L)0.5 structures, and the results show that they possess p-type conductivity with a Hall mobility of ~1 cm2 V-1 s-1 for 2D-CuI(pm)0.5 and 0.13 cm2 V-1 s-1 for 2D-CuI(pz)0.5, respectively. These values are comparable to or higher than the mobilities of typical highly luminescent organic semiconductors. This work suggests that robust, high-dimensional copper iodide hybrid semiconductors are promising candidates to be considered as a new type of emissive layer for light-emitting diode (LED) devices