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Published on: December 21, 2017
POLARON DYNAMICS. Long-lived photoinduced polaron formation in conjugated polyelectrolyte-fullerene assemblies
Rachel C Huber1, Amy S Ferreira1, Robert Thompson1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA.
Abstract:
The efficiency of biological photosynthesis results from the exquisite organization of photoactive elements that promote rapid movement of charge carriers out of a critical recombination range. If synthetic organic photovoltaic materials could mimic this assembly, charge separation and collection could be markedly enhanced. We show that micelle-forming cationic semiconducting polymers can coassemble in water with cationic fullerene derivatives to create photoinduced electron-transfer cascades that lead to exceptionally long-lived polarons. The stability of the polarons depends on the organization of the polymer-fullerene assembly. Properly designed assemblies can produce separated polaronic charges that are stable for days or weeks in aqueous solution.
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