1. Ultraviolet absorption and transient photocurrent spectroscopy in organic thin layers as evidence of super atomic molecular orbitals in corannuleneJinta Mathew, Gvido Bratina, Layla Martin-Samos, Nadiia Pastukhova, Laura Zoppi, Kim K. Baldridge, J. S. Siegel, Egon Pavlica, 2018, published scientific conference contribution abstract Found in: osebi Keywords: photocurrent spectroscopy, organic thin layers, atomic molecular orbitals Published: 03.11.2020; Views: 1760; Downloads: 61
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3. PHOTO-EXCITATION ENERGY INFLUENCE ON THE PHOTOCONDUCTIVITY OF ORGANIC SEMICONDUCTORSNadiia Pastukhova, 2018, doctoral dissertation Abstract: In this work, we experimentally studied the influence of photoexcitation energy
influence on the charge transport in organic semiconductors. Organic semiconductors
were small molecules like corannulene, perylene and pentacene derivatives, polymers
such as polythiophene and benzothiophene derivatives, and graphene, along with
combinations of these materials in heterojunctions or composites.
The first part of this study is focused on the photoexcitation energy influence on
the transient photoconductivity of non-crystalline curved π-conjugated corannulene
layers. The enhanced photoconductivity, in the energy range where optical absorption
is absent, is deduced from theoretical predictions of corannulene gas-phase excited
state spectra. Theoretical analysis reveals a consistent contribution involving
transitions to Super Atomic Molecular Orbitals (SAMOs), a unique set of diffuse
orbitals typical of curved π-conjugated molecules. More, the photoconductivity of the
curved corannulene was compared to the π-conjugated planar N,N′-1H,1H-
perfluorobutyldicyanoperylene-carboxydi-imide
(PDIF-CN2),
where
the
photoexcitation energy dependence of photocurrent closely follows the optical
absorption spectrum.
We next characterized charge transport in poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) layers
deposited from solution. Our results indicate that time-of-flight (TOF) mobility
depends on the photoexcitation energy. It is 0.4× 10 −3 cm 2 /Vs at 2.3 eV (530 nm) and
doubles at 4.8 eV (260 nm). TOF mobility was compared to field-effect (FET) mobility
of P3HT field-effect transistors (OFETs). The FET mobility was similar to the 2.3 eV
excitation TOF mobility. In order to improve charge mobility, graphene nanoparticles
were blended within a P3HT solution before the deposition. We found that the mobility
significantly improves upon the addition of graphene nanoparticles of a weight ratio
as low as 0.2 %. FET mobility increases with graphene concentration up to a value of
2.3× 10 −2 cm 2 /Vs at 3.2 %. The results demonstrate that phase segregation starts to
influence charge transport at graphene concentration of 0.8 % and above. Hence, the
graphene cannot form a bridged conduction channel between electrodes, which would
cancel the semiconducting effect of the polymer composite.
An alternative approach to enhance mobility is to optimize the molecular ordering
of organic semiconductors. For that purpose, we studied an innovative nanomesh
device. Free-standing nanomesh devices were used to form nanojunctions of N,N′-
iiDioctyl-3,4,9,10-perylenedicarboximide (PTCDI-C8) nanowires and crystalline
bis(triisopropylsilylethinyl)pentacene (TIPS-PEN). We characterized the photocurrent
response time of this novel nanomesh scaffold device. The photoresponse time
depends on the photon energy. It is between 4.5 − 5.6 ns at 500 nm excitation
wavelength and between 6.7 − 7.7 ns at 700 nm excitation wavelength. In addition, we
found that thermal annealing reduces charge carrier trapping in crystalline nanowires.
This confirms that the structural defects are crucial to obtaining high photon-to-charge
conversion efficiency and subsequent transport from pn junction in heterostructured
materials.
Structural defects also influence the power conversion efficiency of organic
heterostructured photovoltaics (OPVs). Anticipating that polymers with different
backbone lengths produce different level of structural defects, we examined charge
transport
dependence
on
the
molecular
weight
of
poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-
ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-
ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl]
(PTB7-Th)
from 50 kDa to 300 kDa. We found p-type hopping transport in PTB7-Th,
characterized by 0.1 – 3× 10 −2 cm 2 /Vs mobility, which increases with temperature and
electric field. The polymer molecular weight exhibits a non-trivial influence on charge
transport. FET mobility in the saturation regime increases with molecular weight. A
similar trend is observed in TOF mobility and FET mobility in the linear regime,
except for the 100kDa polymer, which manifests in the highest mobility due to reduced
charge trapping. The lowest trapping at the dielectric interface of OFET is observed at
200 kDa. In addition, the 200 kDa polymer exhibits the lowest activation energy of the
charge transport. Although the 100 kDa polymer indicates the highest mobility, OPVs
using the 200 kDa polymer exhibit the best performance in terms of power conversion
efficiency. Found in: osebi Keywords: organic
semiconductors, optical
absorption
spectroscopy, time-of-flight
photoconductivity, transient photocurrent spectroscopy, organic thin film transistors, atomic force microscopy, superatomic molecular orbitals, pn heterojunction, organic
nanowires, graphene, composites, charge mobility, charge trapping, temperature
dependence, photodetector, photovoltaic, solar cell, organic electronics Published: 08.10.2018; Views: 4349; Downloads: 151
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6. A pyrrolopyridazinedione-based copolymer for fullerene-free organic solar cellsAstrid-Caroline Knall, Samuel Rabensteiner, Sebastian F. Hoefler, Matiss Reinfelds, Mathias Hobisch, Heike M. A. Ehmann, Nadiia Pastukhova, Egon Pavlica, Gvido Bratina, Illie Hanzu, Shuguang Wen, Renqiang Yang, Gregor Trimmel, Thomas Rath, 2021, original scientific article Abstract: The recent success of non-fullerene acceptors in organic photovoltaics also entails a change in the requirements to the polymer donor in terms of optical and morphological properties leading to a demand for novel conjugated polymers. Herein, we report on the synthesis of a 1,4-bis-(thiophene-2-yl)-pyrrolopyridazinedione based copolymer with 2-ethylhexyl substituents on the pyrrolopyridazinedione moiety. A 2D conjugated benzodithiophene (BDT) was chosen as comonomer. The resulting copolymer T-EHPPD-T-EHBDT showed a molecular weight of 10.2 kDa, an optical band gap of 1.79 eV, a hole mobility of 1.8 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a preferred face-on orientation with regard to the substrate. The comparably wide band gap as well as the determined energy levels (HOMO: −5.47 eV, LUMO: −3.68 eV) match well with the narrow band gap non-fullerene acceptor ITIC-F, which was used as the acceptor phase in the bulk heterojunction absorber layers in the investigated solar cells. The solar cells, prepared in inverted architecture, revealed power conversion efficiencies up to 7.4% using a donor:acceptor ratio of 1 : 1 in the absorber layer. Found in: osebi Keywords: non-fullerene solar cells, charge transport, charge mobility, power conversion efficiency Published: 27.01.2021; Views: 1684; Downloads: 0
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7. Atomic layer deposition for the photoelectrochemical applicationsYanbo Li, Andraž Mavrič, Nadiia Pastukhova, 2021, review article Abstract: Substantial progress has been made in the photoelectrochemical (PEC) field to understand the photoelectrode behavior, semiconductor‐electrolyte interface, and photocorrosion, enabling new photoelectrode architectures with higher photocurrent, reduced photovoltage losses, and longer lifetime. Nevertheless, for practical PEC applications additional efforts are still needed to optimize all components of the photoelectrodes, including the light absorbing semiconductors, the layers for charge extraction, charge transfer, corrosion protection, and catalysis. In this regard, atomic layer deposition (ALD) offers new opportunities due to the monolayer‐by‐monolayer deposition approach, allowing preparation of conformal films with precisely controlled thickness and composition. As the ALD instruments are becoming widely accessible, this review aims to make an overview of the applications for photoelectrodes fabrication. The deposition of semiconductors onto flat and nano‐textured substrates, the deposition of ultrathin interlayers to ease charge transport by energy band alignment and surface states passivation, the deposition of corrosion protection layers, and finally, the possibilities for high catalyst dispersion is presented. Found in: osebi Keywords: atomic layer deposition, charge recombination, charge transfer, photocorrosion, photoelectrochemical water splitting Published: 25.02.2021; Views: 1481; Downloads: 72
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8. Plasma-enhanced atomic layer deposition of amorphous Ga2O3 for solar-blind photodetectionQiang Zhou, Guang-Wei Deng, Dong-Liang Liu, Kuang Feng, Bo-Lin Li, Matjaž Valant, Andraž Mavrič, Nadiia Pastukhova, Bo-Yu Fan, Min-Ji Yang, Ze-Yu Fan, Yan-Bo Li, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Wide-bandgap gallium oxide (Ga2O3) is one of the most promising semiconductor materials for solar-blind (200 nm–280 nm) photodetection. In its amorphous form, a-Ga2O3 maintains its intrinsic optoelectronic properties while can be prepared at a low growth temperature, thus is compatible with Si integrated circuits (ICs) technology. Herein, the a-Ga2O3 film is directly deposited on pre-fabricated Au interdigital electrodes by plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition (PE-ALD) at a growth temperature of 250 °C. The stoichiometric a-Ga2O3 thin film with a low defect density is achieved owing to the mild PE-ALD condition. As a result, the fabricated Au/a-Ga2O3/Au photodetector shows a fast time response, high responsivity, and excellent wavelength selectivity for solar-blind photodetection. Furthermore, an ultra-thin MgO layer is deposited by PE-ALD to passivate the Au/a-Ga2O3/Au interface, resulting in the responsivity of 788 A/W (under 254 nm at 10 V), a 250-nm-to-400-nm rejection ratio of 9.2×103, and the rise time and the decay time of 32 ms and 6 ms, respectively. These results demonstrate that the a-Ga2O3 film grown by PE-ALD is a promising candidate for high-performance solar-blind photodetection and potentially can be integrated with Si ICs for commercial production. Found in: osebi Keywords: Amorphous gallium oxide, Passivation layer, Plasma enhanced atomic layer deposition, Responsivity, Solar-blind photodetector Published: 25.10.2022; Views: 294; Downloads: 0
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9. Photoexcited charge mobility in quasi two-dimensional polyacetyleneNadiia Pastukhova, Kejun Liu, Renhao Dong, Gvido Bratina, Xinliang Feng, Egon Pavlica, 2022, published scientific conference contribution abstract Abstract: Two-dimensional conjugated polymers (2DCPs) have been described and recognised as crystalline, one- to two-layer polymer nanosheets prepared by 2D covalent polymerization exhibiting strong in-plane π-electron delocalization with two orthogonal directions and weak out-of-plane π-π stacking.[1,2] The extension of polymer dimensionality into two dimensions improves the alignment of individual polymer sheets and overcomes the limitations associated with charge carrier hopping between polymer chains in one-dimensional and crosslinked polymers.[3] Compared to other two-dimensional materials such as graphene or transition metal dichalcogenides, 2DCPs offer a high degree of flexibility in chemical design and are compatible with liquid-based processing methods. Various 2DCPs have been synthesised by surfactant monolayer-assisted interfacial synthesis (SMAIS).[5]
Of particular interest is the photoresponse of these materials due to their tunable properties, such as bandgap and associated wavelength-dependent photoexcitation, which enables a wide range of applications in optoelectronic devices. Using time-of-flight photoconductivity (TOF-PC) measurements [4], we investigate the charge transport properties of 2D polyacetylene prepared by SMAIS method. We preform TOF-PC measurement of 2D polyacetylene using a focused nanosecond pulse laser at 325 nm and electrode separation of 250 µm. From the bias polarity and time duration of the photocurrent, we can determine the polarity, velocity and mobility of photoexcited charge carriers as a function of applied bias voltage and excitation wavelength. Using excitation at 325 m, we observed an electron mobility in the range of 150 cm2 V-1 s-1, which is in the realm of most advances small-molecule single-crystal organic semiconductors and almost an order of magnitude higher than linear polymeric semiconductors. Found in: osebi Keywords: Two-dimensional conjugated polymers, 2DCPs, 2Dpolymers, charge mobility, time-of-flight photoconductivity Published: 29.11.2022; Views: 227; Downloads: 0
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10. Coevaporation of doped inorganic carrier-selective layers for high-performance inverted planar perovskite solar cellsQiugui Zeng, Zeyu Fan, Beibei Zhang, Yanbo Li, Jiexuan Jiang, Andraž Mavrič, Nadiia Pastukhova, Matjaž Valant, 2022, original scientific article Abstract: Inorganic carrier selective layers (CSLs), whose conductivity can be effectively tuned by doping, offer low-cost and stable alternatives for their organic counterparts in perovskite solar cells (PSCs). Herein, we employ a dual-source electron-beam co-evaporation method for the controlled deposition of copper-doped nickel oxide (Cu:NiO) and tungsten-doped niobium oxide (W:Nb2O5) as hole and electron transport layers, respectively. The mechanisms for the improved conductivity using dopants are investigated. Owing to the improved conductivity and optimized band alignment of the doped CSLs, the all-inorganic-CSLs-based PSCs achieves a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.47%. Furthermore, a thin titanium buffer layer is inserted between the W:Nb2O5 and the silver electrode to prevent the halide ingression and improve band alignment. This leads to a further improvement of PCE to 21.32% and a long-term stability (1200 h) after encapsulation. Finally, the large-scale applicability of the doped CSLs by co-evaporation is demonstrated for the device with 1 cm2 area showing a PCE of over 19%. Our results demonstrate the potential application of the co-evaporated CSLs with controlled doping in PSCs for commercialization. Found in: osebi Keywords: carrier selective layers, Cu-doped nickel oxide, electron-beam evaporation, perovskite solar cells, W-doped niobium oxide Published: 17.03.2022; Views: 763; Downloads: 27 This document has many files! More...
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