Dialkoxymethano[60]fullerenes as electron acceptors in thin-film organic solar cells

This study presents the synthesis, characterization, and electrochemical properties of four new dialkoxymethanofullerenes, as well as their performance in organic solar cells (OSCs) devices. Dialkoxymethanofullerenes were synthesized in 27%–32% yield by thermolysis of dialkoxyoxadiazolines and reaction with C₆₀ under reflux in toluene. The prepared compounds were then characterized and used for the first time as electron-acceptor materials in thin-film bulk heterojunction OSCs with PBTZT-stat-BDTT-8 as the electron donor material. The devices made with ethoxy-hexyloxymethanofullerene and methoxy-hexyloxymethanofullerene exhibited optimal power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 3.79% and 4.65%, with open-circuit voltage of 0.832 and 0.831 V, respectively. In contrast, the devices made with ethoxy-ethoxymethanofullerene and methoxy-ethoxymethanofullerene exhibited very low PCEs of <0.01% for both, indicating a large impact of the substituents on device performance.     

The radicals formed by photoinduced electron transfer from hypocrellins to electron acceptors

The photoinduced electron transfer from excited singlet and triplet states of hypocrellins to three electron acceptors, namely, methyl viologen chloride (MV), tetrachloro-p-benzoquinone (TCQ) and 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyan-p-benzoquinone (DDQ), has been investigated by fluorescence and time-resolved transient absorption spectra. In acetonitrile solution, DDQ and TCQ quenched the fluorescence and T-T absorption of hypocrellins (HA and HB) efficiently, while neither fluorescence nor T-T absorption of them could be quenched by MV. The quenching resulted from the electron transfer between excited hypocrellins and the electron acceptors was controlled by diffusion. The rate constants of electron transfer from excited singlet and triplet of HA to DDQ are 9.20×10¹⁰ dm³ mol^?1 s^?1 and 1.28×10⁹ dm³ mol^?1 s^?1, respectively. The transient absorption spectra of the formed radical cations of hypocrellins are reported.     

Fused-ring electron acceptors in China

正In recent years, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) as one of nextgeneration solar energy technologies have attracted intense interest since they are featured with low cost, light weight,flexibility and semi-transparency [1]. At the early stage in the OPV field, fullerenes and their derivatives dominated electron acceptor materials due to their high electron affinity,high electron mobility and isotropic electron transporting ability, and fullerene-based devices yielded power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) up to～12%[2].     

Anisotropic hot electron emission from fullerenes

Photoelectron spectra for fullerenes C(60) and C(70) ionized using 800 nm laser pulses with pulse durations from 120 to 1000 fs show thermal electron kinetic energy distributions but they also exhibit angular anisotropy with respect to the laser light polarization. The effective temperature of electrons, measured along the laser polarization direction, is significantly higher than in the perpendicular direction. We explain this observation by considering that the emission of the thermal electrons is uncorrelated with the phase of the laser pulse, unlike directly ionized electrons, and, depending on the time of emission, they may experience an additional "kick" from the vector potential of the laser field when they are emitted from the molecule.     

Pyrazino-tetracyanonaphthoquinodimethanes: sterically deformed electron acceptors affording zwitterionic radicals

The X-ray analyses of the title electron acceptors (1) revealed their butterfly-shaped deformed geometry, which is not affected by the pyridyl group attached at 2-position of the pyrazino-TCNNQ skeleton. Small differences between the first and second reduction potentials (ca. 0.1 V) in pyrazino-TCNNQs show that their anion radicals (1⁻) are prone to disproportionate into the neutral (1) and dianionic (1²⁻) species. The thermodynamically unstable anion radical species based on the pyrazino-TCNNQ skeleton could be isolated as inner salts upon electrochemical reduction of the derivatives having an N-methylpyridinium moiety at 2-position (2⁺). The zwitterionic open-shell species (2) constitute a novel class of radicals that exhibit semiconducting behavior as a single component thanks to the high electrochemical amphotericity.     

Tetrahalotetraazafulvalenes — New strong electron acceptors

Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 10, p. 1421, October, 1989.     

Nanostructured silica thin films self-assembled with electron donors and acceptors to measure electron tunneling

Surfactant-templated, mesostructured thin films are synthesized such that photoelectron donors and electron acceptors are separated spatially in the different regions of the thin film. A photoelectron donor is placed within the silica framework by using a silylated derivative of the well-known tris(bipyridine)ruthenium(II) cation. Selective placement of the electron acceptor is achieved by using a surfactant derivative of methyl viologen. Luminescence decay traces and luminescence spectra are collected for the electron donor in the presence of varying amounts of the electron acceptor. Because of the spatial separation of the donor and acceptor noncontact electron transfer occurs and the electron-transfer rate decreases exponentially with the distance separating the donor and acceptor. Luminescence decay traces are calculated and fit to the experimental data in order to extract a value for the contact quenching rate, k0 (s(-1)), as well as the exponential decay constant beta (A(-1)) which governs how fast the electron-transfer rate decreases as a function of the donor-acceptor distance. The value beta = 2.5 +/- 0.4 A(-1) shows that the mesostructured material is an excellent insulator, better than frozen organic glasses or proteins and approaching that of vacuum. Combining deliberate placement methods, spectroscopy, and calculations has made possible the first measurement of beta for the silica region of mesoporous thin films.     

Study of electron donor-acceptor complexes of tri-n-octyl amine with [60]- and [70]fullerenes and some other electron acceptors by absorption spectrophotometric method

Electron donor-acceptor (EDA) complexes of tri-n-octylamine (TOA) with [60]- and [70]fullerenes and some other electron acceptors have been studied in chloroform medium by absorption spectrophotometric technique. Charge transfer (CT) absorption bands are observed in the visible region. Vertical ionization potential of TOA was determined utilizing CT transition energy. Oscillator strengths, transition dipole strengths and resonance energies for all the complexes have been calculated. [60]Fullerene/TOA and [70]fullerene/TOA complexes are found to decay slowly with time. Kinetics of these reactions have been studied and activation energies for such processes have been estimated. Ab initio calculations suggest that complexation of [70]fullerene with TOA is enthalpy favoured.     

Preparation of zwitterionic electron acceptors and donors

The reactions of 4, 4'-bipyridine and nicotinamide with 1, 3-propane sultone yields zwitterionic electron acceptors. Reaction of dimethylaminoethyl ferrocene with 1, 3-propane sultone yields a zwitterionic ferrocene electron donor. The electron acceptors and donor are reduced and oxidized to the respective radical anions and ferrocenyl cation. Dipropyl-4, 4'-bipyridinium disulfonate and the ferrocene derivative quench the excited Ru(bipy)₃²⁺.     

Long-range perylene fluorescence quenching by electron acceptors

Diffusion-controlled fluorescence quenching for perylene by dinitrobenzene has been examined; Smoluchowski's equation does not apply. The reaction radius R in relatively viscous solvents (isopropanol and benzonitrile) exceed the contact radius by more than a factor two. R decreases as the mutual diffusion coefficient D increases. The in D dependence for R has been used to determine the electron-tunneling parameters. The Frank-Condon factors increase with the electron-acceptor strength. Electron-tunneling barrier heights from excited perylene to the oxidizing agent have been calculated. It is concluded that virtual solvent states are involved.Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Éksperimental'naya Khimiya, Vol. 24, No. 6, pp. 672–677, November–December, 1988.We are indebted to G. P. Gurinovich, Corresponding Member, Belorussian Academy of Sciences, for support in this work and for providing facilities for the measurements, and to Professor A. I. Burshtein for discussion.     

Positive electron affinity of fullerenes: Its effect and origin

The universal variation pattern of the total energy of various fullerenes including single-walled carbon nanotubes with respect to their extra charge is revealed by the density-functional-theory calculations. The parabolic energy-charge curve with its lowest energy value corresponding to a negatively charged fullerene indicates that these carbon materials have positive electron affinity and are not in the most stable state. The positive electron affinity seems to originate from the pi-electrons and is found to be related to the aggregation property of fullerenes.     

Effect of structural change in viologen acceptors on the rate of single electron transfer from tributylphosphine

The "flexible" 3 and "rigid" cyclic viologens 4, diquarternary salts of 2,2'-bipyridine and 1,10-phenanthroline, respectively, were treated with tributylphosphine (1) in acetonitrile containing a large amount of methanol under an argon atmosphere. A single electron transfer (SET) easily occurred from the latter to the former, the SET to 4 being 10(5)-10(6) times faster than the SET to 3. The reorganization energy lambda for the latter SET is thought to be larger than that for the former SET, because 3 undergoes a structural change upon the one-electron reduction to its radical cation, whereas the one-electron reduction of 4 takes place without a structural change. Taking into account the difference in lambda, and also taking into account the bond formation energy brought about by the follow-up reaction of the phosphine radical cation 1*(+) with methanol, the observed kinetics were well interpreted in terms of the Marcus theory.     

Towards enhancing light harvesting-subphthalocyanines as electron acceptors

One carbon atom is too many. Two subphthalocyanine-extended TTF electron donor-acceptor conjugates were synthesized and characterized. Their photophysical properties prompt the remarkable impact that one extra carbon between the two constitutents exerts on photoinduced processes, that is, charge recombination dynamics in the normal versus inverted region.     

Direct delocalization for calculating electron transfer in fullerenes

A method is introduced for simple calculation of charge transfer between very large solvated organic dimers (fullerenes here) from isolated dimer calculations. The individual monomers in noncentrosymmetric dimers experience different chemical environments, so that the dimers do not necessarily represent bulk‐like molecules. Therefore, we apply a delocalizing bias directly to the Fock matrix of the dimer system, and verify that this is almost as accurate as self‐consistent solvation. As large molecules like fullerenes have a plethora of excited states, the initially excited state orbitals are thermally populated, so that the rate is obtained as a thermal average over Marcus thermal transfers. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A new strategy for designing polymer electron acceptors: electronrich conjugated backbone with electron-deficient side units

Three "double-cable" conjugated polymers with thienopyrroledione-based backbone and perylene bisimide as side units were designed as electron acceptor for polymer-polymer solar cells. The polymers show broad absorption spectra and low-lying frontier energy levels due to both aromatic backbone and side units. The new double-cable polymers can be used as electron acceptor to combine with several electron donors, in which power conversion efficiencies above 3% could be achieved.     

Fluorinated fullerenes: sources of donor-acceptor dyads with [18]trannulene acceptors for energy- and electron-transfer reactions

Fine-tuned control over the donor strength in a series of trannulenes-based donor-acceptor ensembles is used to alter the deactivation path of the photoexcited-state chromophore and to modulate the rates of intramolecular electron transfer. For the first time, a detailed analysis of emission spectra, time-dependent spectroscopic measurements, and electrochemistry prove spectroscopically and kinetically that trannulenes can serve, in a manner similar to C(60) and C(60) monoadducts, as both electron and also as energy acceptor in donor-acceptor ensembles, producing widely different electron-transfer regimes. This investigation also shows that the integration of trannulenes, as a versatile electron-acceptor building block, consistently produces charge recombination in the inverted Marcus region.     

Derivatized fullerenes bearing multiple electron donors: synthesis and charge transfer properties

A series of methano-C60 adducts bearing up to six electron donating N,N-dimethylaniline units (denoted as D compounds), along with their analogues without the dimethylamino groups as references (R compounds), were synthesized. The redox properties of the D compounds in solutions were evaluated spectroscopically in reference to the R compounds. According to UV/vis absorption results, there are obviously ground-state intramolecular charge-transfer complexes in the D series, and the charge-transfer effects apparently become saturated with only two donor units in the molecule. The photoinduced intramolecular electron-transfer properties of the D compounds were investigated via fluorescence measurements. The emission from intramolecular exciplexes can be found only in the D molecule with two electron donor units. Throughout the D series, the fluorescence properties are highly sensitive to the solvent polarity, with the emission completely quenched for all of the molecules in a polar solvent like methylene chloride. Mechanistic implications of the results are discussed.