Direct observation of photoinduced bound charge-pair states at an organic-inorganic semiconductor interface

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • Yana Vaynzof - , University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Artem A. Bakulin - , University of Cambridge, AMOLF (Author)
  • Simon Gélinas - , University of Cambridge (Author)
  • Richard H. Friend - , University of Cambridge (Author)

Abstract

It is generally considered that photoinduced charge transfer at the organic-inorganic interfaces in hybrid photovoltaic devices immediately results in a pair of free charge carriers. We extend a novel interface-selective ultrafast "optical pump-push photocurrent probe" technique to study hybrid photovoltaic systems and observe bound electron-hole pair states at the organic-inorganic interface formed between electron-accepting zinc oxide and electron-donating conjugated polymers. We estimate that ∼50% of photogenerated charges stay bound and later recombine, thus hindering the photovoltaic performance of polymer/ZnO cells. We further demonstrate that interface modification with a fullerene derivative decreases the fraction of bound charges to ∼25%, which substantially improves the device efficiency.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Article number246605
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume108
Issue number24
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2012
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

Sustainable Development Goals

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