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Anion Localization on Termini of a Non-Fullerene Acceptor Aids Charge Transport

Guo, J; Appleby, MV; Ding, K; Shan, T; Shipp, J; Sazanovich, IV; Chekulaev, D; ... Clarke, TM; + view all (2025) Anion Localization on Termini of a Non-Fullerene Acceptor Aids Charge Transport. Advanced Energy Materials 10.1002/aenm.202404926. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

Non-fullerene acceptors have revolutionised organic photovoltaics. However, greater fundamental understanding is needed of the crucial relationships between molecular structure and photophysical mechanisms. Herein, a combination of spectroscopic, morphology, and device characterization techniques are used to explore these relationships for a high-performing non-fullerene acceptor, anti-PDFC. It focuses on transient absorption spectroscopy across multiple timescales and ultrafast time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy to acquire the “holy grail” of simultaneous structural and dynamic information for anti-PDFC and its blend with the well-known conjugated polymer PM6. Most significantly, it is observed that the singlet exciton of anti-PDFC is localised on the perylene diimide central core of the molecule, but the radical anion is primarily localised on the fluorinated indene malonitrile terminal units (which are common to many state-of-the-art non-fullerene acceptors, including the Y6 family). This electron transfer from the central core to the termini of an adjacent molecule is facilitated by a close interaction between the termini and the central core, as evidenced by single crystal diffraction data and excited state calculations. Finally, the very efficient charge extraction measured for PM6:anti-PDFC photovoltaic devices may be correlated with this anion localization, enabling effective charge transport channels and thus enhancing device performance.

Type: Article
Title: Anion Localization on Termini of a Non-Fullerene Acceptor Aids Charge Transport
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202404926
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202404926
Language: English
Additional information: © 2025 The Author(s). Advanced Energy Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Chemistry
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203714
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