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Porphyrin oriented self-assembled nanostructures for efficient exciton dissociation in high-performing organic photovoltaics

Porphyrin oriented self-assembled nanostructures for efficient exciton dissociation in high-performing organic photovoltaics
Porphyrin oriented self-assembled nanostructures for efficient exciton dissociation in high-performing organic photovoltaics

Herein we report on enhanced organic solar cell performance through the incorporation of cathode interfacial layers consisting of self-organized porphyrin nanostructures with a face-on configuration. In particular, a water/methanol-soluble porphyrin molecule, the free base meso-tetrakis(1- methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride, is employed as a novel cathode interlayer in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics. It is demonstrated that the self-organization of this porphyrin compound into aggregates in which molecules adopt a face-to-face orientation parallel to the organic semiconducting substrate induces a large local interfacial electric field that results in a significant enhancement of exciton dissociation. Consequently, enhanced photocurrent and open circuit voltage were obtained resulting in overall device efficiency improvement in organic photovoltaics based on bulk heterojunction mixtures of different polymeric donors and fullerene acceptors, regardless of the specific combination of donor-acceptor employed. To highlight the impact of molecular orientation a second porphyrin compound, the Zn-metallated meso-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride, was also studied and it was found that it forms aggregates with an edge-to-edge molecular configuration inducing a smaller increase in the device performance.

2050-7488
182-192
Vasilopoulou, M.
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Georgiadou, D. G.
84977176-3678-4fb3-a3dd-2044a49c853b
Douvas, A. M.
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Soultati, A.
75205fde-50fc-473e-ad72-ab0b3c6b2cb9
Constantoudis, V.
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Davazoglou, D.
a946cf5d-287a-4734-ba55-b180ab4525ed
Gardelis, S.
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Palilis, L. C.
b09e9554-54da-4be5-aa08-bda894e2b86f
Fakis, M.
ed01170e-ba9c-48d8-87d3-02a05ad0eff0
Kennou, S.
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Lazarides, T.
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Coutsolelos, A. G.
ee1dc69e-5f00-4f79-9eb5-e5dd741fc99f
Argitis, P.
ab9c4ea6-3dd2-4e34-935d-81bfb360f358
Vasilopoulou, M.
aad1381e-d091-4090-8c7c-b74bed22393d
Georgiadou, D. G.
84977176-3678-4fb3-a3dd-2044a49c853b
Douvas, A. M.
2e088659-e1b3-4723-aff9-4dfe385579b5
Soultati, A.
75205fde-50fc-473e-ad72-ab0b3c6b2cb9
Constantoudis, V.
aadaf488-cc95-4881-9254-5537045b36e7
Davazoglou, D.
a946cf5d-287a-4734-ba55-b180ab4525ed
Gardelis, S.
e1c19249-ca1b-44c3-bb48-3cf76362f388
Palilis, L. C.
b09e9554-54da-4be5-aa08-bda894e2b86f
Fakis, M.
ed01170e-ba9c-48d8-87d3-02a05ad0eff0
Kennou, S.
7ca6a6bd-6a05-4110-b3da-c8807f798370
Lazarides, T.
02bb4c7b-ced9-43d0-8d57-4c037265f2f3
Coutsolelos, A. G.
ee1dc69e-5f00-4f79-9eb5-e5dd741fc99f
Argitis, P.
ab9c4ea6-3dd2-4e34-935d-81bfb360f358

Vasilopoulou, M., Georgiadou, D. G., Douvas, A. M., Soultati, A., Constantoudis, V., Davazoglou, D., Gardelis, S., Palilis, L. C., Fakis, M., Kennou, S., Lazarides, T., Coutsolelos, A. G. and Argitis, P. (2014) Porphyrin oriented self-assembled nanostructures for efficient exciton dissociation in high-performing organic photovoltaics. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2 (1), 182-192. (doi:10.1039/c3ta13107f).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Herein we report on enhanced organic solar cell performance through the incorporation of cathode interfacial layers consisting of self-organized porphyrin nanostructures with a face-on configuration. In particular, a water/methanol-soluble porphyrin molecule, the free base meso-tetrakis(1- methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride, is employed as a novel cathode interlayer in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics. It is demonstrated that the self-organization of this porphyrin compound into aggregates in which molecules adopt a face-to-face orientation parallel to the organic semiconducting substrate induces a large local interfacial electric field that results in a significant enhancement of exciton dissociation. Consequently, enhanced photocurrent and open circuit voltage were obtained resulting in overall device efficiency improvement in organic photovoltaics based on bulk heterojunction mixtures of different polymeric donors and fullerene acceptors, regardless of the specific combination of donor-acceptor employed. To highlight the impact of molecular orientation a second porphyrin compound, the Zn-metallated meso-tetrakis(1-methylpyridinium-4-yl)porphyrin chloride, was also studied and it was found that it forms aggregates with an edge-to-edge molecular configuration inducing a smaller increase in the device performance.

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More information

Accepted/In Press date: 17 October 2013
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 October 2013
Published date: 7 January 2014

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 440518
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/440518
ISSN: 2050-7488
PURE UUID: 683b2f44-7a7b-4605-b6c9-2673e8c9e800
ORCID for D. G. Georgiadou: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2620-3346

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Date deposited: 06 May 2020 16:31
Last modified: 06 Jun 2024 02:07

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Contributors

Author: M. Vasilopoulou
Author: A. M. Douvas
Author: A. Soultati
Author: V. Constantoudis
Author: D. Davazoglou
Author: S. Gardelis
Author: L. C. Palilis
Author: M. Fakis
Author: S. Kennou
Author: T. Lazarides
Author: A. G. Coutsolelos
Author: P. Argitis

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