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Updated: May 12, 2026

Development of Efficient OLEDs from Solution Deposition
Published on: November 4, 2022
External quantum efficiency above 100% in a singlet-exciton-fission-based organic photovoltaic cell
Daniel N Congreve1, Jiye Lee, Nicholas J Thompson
1Energy Frontier Research Center for Excitonics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
Abstract:
Singlet exciton fission transforms a molecular singlet excited state into two triplet states, each with half the energy of the original singlet. In solar cells, it could potentially double the photocurrent from high-energy photons. We demonstrate organic solar cells that exploit singlet exciton fission in pentacene to generate more than one electron per incident photon in a portion of the visible spectrum. Using a fullerene acceptor, a poly(3-hexylthiophene) exciton confinement layer, and a conventional optical trapping scheme, we show a peak external quantum efficiency of (109 ± 1)% at wavelength λ = 670 nanometers for a 15-nanometer-thick pentacene film. The corresponding internal quantum efficiency is (160 ± 10)%. Analysis of the magnetic field effect on photocurrent suggests that the triplet yield approaches 200% for pentacene films thicker than 5 nanometers.
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