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Morphology Control for Fully Printable Organic–Inorganic Bulk-heterojunction Solar Cells Based on a Ti-alkoxide and Semiconducting Polymer
Published on: January 10, 2017
Synthetic polymers for solar harvesting.
Kenneth P Ghiggino1, Toby D M Bell, Emma N Hooley
1School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. ghiggino@unimelb.edu.au
Faraday Discussions
|April 5, 2012
Summary
Synthetic polymers function as light harvesters in artificial photosynthesis. Studies reveal efficient energy transfer in phenylene vinylene copolymers, despite single-chain photophysical variations like blinking.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Photochemistry
- Polymer Science
Background:
- Synthetic polymers with chromophores can serve as light-harvesting antennae for artificial photosynthesis.
- Understanding energy transfer in these polymers is crucial for developing efficient artificial photosynthetic systems.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the photophysical processes and energy transfer mechanisms in a specific phenylene vinylene copolymer at the single-chain and bulk solution levels.
- To analyze fluorescence blinking, spectral shifts, and decay dynamics in individual polymer chains.
Main Methods:
- Investigation of photophysical processes in an alternating copolymer of 2-methoxy-5-(2'-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene and 1,4-phenylene vinylene (alt-co-MEH-PPV).
- Single-chain and bulk solution level studies using fluorescence spectroscopy.
- Analysis of emission intensity fluctuations (blinking), spectral shifts, decay lifetimes, and dipole orientation.
Main Results:
- Most single chains of alt-co-MEH-PPV act as efficient single chromophore emitters, indicating effective energy transfer.
- Individual polymer chains exhibit photophysical fluctuations, including blinking, spectral shifts, and orientation changes on various timescales.
- Sub-millisecond blinking follows exponential kinetics, while longer-timescale blinking adheres to a power law.
Conclusions:
- The observed photophysical behaviors suggest environmental relaxation processes and/or emitter changes.
- A wide distribution of photophysical properties exists among individual polymer molecules.
- These findings are relevant for the application of polymer materials in solar energy harvesting.
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