Vezie, MS;
Few, S;
Meager, I;
Pieridou, G;
Dorling, B;
Ashraf, RS;
Goni, AR;
... Nelson, J; + view all
(2016)
Exploring the origin of high optical absorption in conjugated polymers.
Nature Materials
, 15
(7)
pp. 746-753.
10.1038/NMAT4645.
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Abstract
The specific optical absorption of an organic semiconductor is critical to the performance of organic optoelectronic devices. For example, higher light-harvesting efficiency can lead to higher photocurrent in solar cells that are limited by sub-optimal electrical transport. Here, we compare over 40 conjugated polymers, and find that many different chemical structures share an apparent maximum in their extinction coefficients. However, a diketopyrrolopyrrole-thienothiophene copolymer shows remarkably high optical absorption at relatively low photon energies. By investigating its backbone structure and conformation with measurements and quantum chemical calculations, we find that the high optical absorption can be explained by the high persistence length of the polymer. Accordingly, we demonstrate high absorption in other polymers with high theoretical persistence length. Visible light harvesting may be enhanced in other conjugated polymers through judicious design of the structure.
Type: | Article |
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Title: | Exploring the origin of high optical absorption in conjugated polymers |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1038/NMAT4645 |
Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/NMAT4645 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | Copyright © 2016 Macmillan Publishers Limited, part of Springer Nature. All rights reserved. The final publication is available at Nature Materials via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat4645. |
Keywords: | Science & Technology, Physical Sciences, Technology, Chemistry, Physical, Materials Science, Multidisciplinary, Physics, Applied, Physics, Condensed Matter, Chemistry, Materials Science, Physics, Solar-Cells, Molecular-Weight, Thin-Films, Dependence, Disorder, Semiconductors, Enhancement, Transport, Mobility, Spectra |
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 |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1516897 |
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