Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 50 (2011) 091602 (4 pages)  |Previous Article| |Next Article|  |Table of Contents|
|Full Text PDF (555K)| |Buy This Article|

Quadrimolecular Recombination of Persistent Photocarriers in Surface-Type Photocells of Regioregular Poly(3-hexylthiophene)/Methanofullerene Composites

Hiroshi Ito, Yuki Nishikawa, Junya Suzuki, Akimitsu Suzuki, Shun-ichiro Watanabe, Hisaaki Tanaka, Hideo Kishida, Arao Nakamura, and Shin-ichi Kuroda

(Received May 21, 2011; accepted June 26, 2011; published online September 20, 2011)

Photocarrier recombination kinetics was studied in regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene)/methanofullerene composites by measuring the photocurrent of surface-type photocells. The photocurrent exhibited fast and persistent components. The light-intensity dependence of the photocurrent and the analysis of decay curves of the persistent component indicated the dominance of quadrimolecular recombination (QR) between two positive carriers on regioregular polymers and two negative carriers on methanofullerenes in the time range of 0.1 to 100 s. No QR but bimolecular recombination was observed in cells containing regiorandom polymers, consistent with light-induced electron spin resonance studies. These results differ markedly from those of sandwich-type cells in which photocarriers flow out of the cell prior to the recombination, demonstrating an advantage of the surface-type photocell with larger electrode spacing in studying the recombination of long-lived photocarriers. At high methanofullerene concentrations above 50 wt %, the fast component predominates over the persistent one by annealing owing to percolation of the pathway for negative carriers.

URL: http://jjap.jsap.jp/link?JJAP/50/091602/
DOI: 10.1143/JJAP.50.091602
PACS: 73.61.Ph, 73.61.Wp, 73.50.Gr, 78.66.Qn, 78.66.Tr, 84.60.Jt, 88.40.jr

References | Citing Article (1)

1. B. W. Ma, C. Yang, X. Gong, K. Lee, and A. J. Heeger: Adv. Funct. Mater. 15 (2005) 1617.
2. Y. Liang, Z. Xu, J. Xia, S.-T. Tsai, Y. Wu, G. Li, and C. Ray: Adv. Mater. 22 (2010) E135.
3. I-.W. Hwang, D. Moses, and A. J. Heeger: J. Phys. Chem. C 112 (2008) 4350.
4. I. Montanari, A. F. Nogueira, J. Nelson, J. R. Durrant, C. Winder, M. A. Loi, N. S. Sariciftci, and C. Brabec: Appl. Phys. Lett. 81 (2002) 3001[AIP Scitation].
5. T. M. Clarke, F. C. Jamieson, and J. R. Durrant: J. Phys. Chem. C 113 (2009) 20934.
6. J. Guo, H. Ohkita, S. Yokoya, H. Benten, and S. Ito: J. Am. Chem. Soc. 132 (2010) 9631[CrossRef].
7. C. G. Shuttle, B. O'Regan, A. M. Ballantyne, J. Nelson, D. D. C. Bradley, J. de Mello, and J. R. Durrant: Appl. Phys. Lett. 92 (2008) 093311[AIP Scitation].
8. A. Pivrikas, N. S. Sariciftci, G. Juška, and R. Österbacka: Prog. Photovoltaics 15 (2007) 677.
9. A. Foertig, A. Baumann, D. Rauh, V. Dyakonov, and C. Deibel: Appl. Phys. Lett. 95 (2009) 052104[AIP Scitation].
10. K. Marumoto, Y. Muramatsu, and S. Kuroda: Appl. Phys. Lett. 84 (2004) 1317[AIP Scitation].
11. H. Tanaka, Y. Yokoi, N. Hasegawa, S. Kuroda, T. Iijima, T. Sato, and T. Yamamoto: J. Appl. Phys. 107 (2010) 083708[AIP Scitation].
12. H. Sirringhaus, P. J. Brown, R. H. Friend, M. M. Nielsen, K. Bechgaard, B. M. M. Langeveld-Voss, A. J. H. Spiering, R. A. J. Janssen, E. W. Meijer, P. Herwig, and D. M. de Leeuw: Nature 401 (1999) 685[CrossRef].
13. V. Dyakonov, G. Zoriniants, M. Scharber, C. J. Brabec, R. A. J. Janssen, J. C. Hummelen, and N. S. Sariciftci: Phys. Rev. B 59 (1999) 8019[APS].
14. K. Marumoto, M. Kato, H. Kondo, S. Kuroda, N. C. Greenham, R. H. Friend, Y. Shimoi, and S. Abe: Phys. Rev. B 79 (2009) 245204[APS].
15. K. Marumoto, Y. Muramatsu, Y. Nagano, T. Iwata, S. Ukai, H. Ito, S. Kuroda, Y. Shimoi, and S. Abe: J. Phys. Soc. Jpn. 74 (2005) 3066.
16. H. Tanaka, S. Watanabe, H. Ito, K. Marumoto, and S. Kuroda: Appl. Phys. Lett. 94 (2009) 103308[AIP Scitation].
17. H. Ito, Y. Niimi, A. Suzuki, K. Marumoto, and S. Kuroda: Thin Solid Films 516 (2008) 2743[CrossRef].
18. M. Caironi, T. Agonstinelli, D. Natali, M. Sampietro, R. Cugola, M. Catellani, and S. Luzzat: J. Appl. Phys. 102 (2007) 024503[AIP Scitation].
19. P. Schilinsky, C. Waldauf, and C. Brabec: Appl. Phys. Lett. 81 (2002) 3885[AIP Scitation].
20. I. Riedel and V. Dyakonov: Phys. Status Solidi A 201 (2004) 1332[CrossRef].
21. S. R. Cowan, A. Roy, and A. J. Heeger: Phys. Rev. B 82 (2010) 245207[APS].
22. A. Baumann, J. Lorrmann, C. Deibel, and V. Dyakonov: Appl. Phys. Lett. 93 (2008) 252104[AIP Scitation].
23. K. Yoshino, T. Akashi, K. Yoshimoto, S. Morita, T. Kawai, and A. V. Zakhidov: Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 34 (1995) L127[JSAP].
24. E. von Hauff, J. Parisi, and V. Dyakonov: J. Appl. Phys. 100 (2006) 043702[AIP Scitation].
25. S. Watanabe, H. Tanaka, H. Ito, S. Kuroda, T. Mori, K. Marumoto, and Y. Shimoi: Org. Electron. 12 (2011) 716.