Interchain coupling effects on dynamics of photoexcitations in conjugated polymers

Within an extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model including interchain interactions and the extended Hubbard model, the dynamical relaxation of photoexcitations in two coupled conjugated polymer chains is investigated by using a nonadiabatic evolution method. Initially, one of the two chains is photoexcited and the other chain is in the dimerized ground state. Due to the interchain interactions, the electron and/or the hole can be transferred from one chain to the other chain. For weak interchain coupling, the dynamical evolution of the lattice on the photoexcited chain is similar to that found in an isolate single chain case. With interchain interactions increasing, the amplitude of the distortions on the photoexcited chain decreases, and simultaneously, that on the other chain gradually increases. Until stronger interchain coupling, the deformations of the two chains have almost the same amplitude. Besides intrachain polaron-excitons and intrachain oppositely charged polaron pairs as found in single chain case, interchain polaron-excitons and interchain separated charged polaron pairs are obtained. The results show that the yield of interchain products increases and that of intrachain products decreases with interchain coupling increasing. Totally, the yield of charged polarons (including intrachain oppositely charged polaron pairs and interchain oppositely charged polaron pairs) is about 25%, in good agreement with results from experiments.     

Spin-dependent polaron recombination in conjugated polymers

We simulate the interchain polaron recombination process in conjugated polymer systems using a nonadiabatic molecular dynamics method, which allows for the coupled evolution of the nuclear degrees of freedom and multiconfigurational electronic wavefunctions. Within the method, the appropriate spin symmetry of the electronic wavefunction is taken into account, thus allowing us to distinguish between singlet and triplet excited states. It is found that the incident polarons can form an exciton, form a bound interchain polaron pair, or pass each other, depending on the interchain interaction strength and the strength of an external electric field. Most importantly, we found that the formation of singlet excitons is considerably easier than triplet excitons. This shows that in real organic light emitting devices, the electroluminescence quantum efficiency can exceed the statistical limitation value of 25%, in agreement with experiments.     

Poly(silylene)s: charge carrier photogeneration and transport

An Erratum has been published for this article in Polymers for Advanced Technologies 12(10)2001, 603. Poly(diorganylsilylene)s can be excited within the framework of Si bonds in the polymer backbone as well as within a side group skeleton. An electron transfer from the main chain to a side group or an interchain electron transfer is necessary to form a quasi‐stable ion‐pair. Dissociation of the ion‐pair in the external electric field can be described in terms of the Onsager theory of geminate recombination. The charge carrier transport proceeds predominantly along σ‐delocalized Si backbone with participation of interchain hopping and polaron formation. A model of disordered polarons seems to be adequate to describe the charge carrier transport properties. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Dissociation dynamics of Ar3 in the time-dependent self-consistent field (TDSCF) approximation

The TDSCF approximation is applied to dissociation of Ar₃, which exhibits strong-coupling behavior (efficient internal energy transfer). The TDSCF results are in excellent agreement with those of exact classical dynamics. Combined with earlier findings for weak-coupling cases, this suggests validity of TDSCF for dissociation at all coupling strengths.     

Polaron effects and electric field dependence of the charge carrier mobility in conjugated polymers

Charge transport in conjugated polymers has been investigated using Monte Carlo simulations implemented on top of the Marcus theory for donor-acceptor transition rates. In particular, polaron effects and the dependency of the mobility on the temperature and the applied electric field have been studied. The conclusions are that while the qualitative temperature dependence is similar to that predicted by Miller-Abrahams theory in the Gaussian disorder model (GDM), the electric field dependence is characterized by a crossover into the Marcus inverted region, not present in the GDM. Furthermore, available analytical approximations to describe the electric field dependence of the mobility in Marcus theory fail to fit the simulation data and hence cannot be used to directly draw conclusions about the importance of polaron effects for charge transport in conjugated polymers.     

Scattering process between polaron and exciton in conjugated polymers

Scattering process between a negative polaron and an exciton in a polymer chain is investigated by using the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model modified to include electron-electron interactions, the Brazovskii-Kirova symmetry breaking term, and an external electric field. It is found that the scattering process is spin dependent. If the polaron and the exciton have parallel spins, the polaron can easily pass through the exciton as if it "do not see" the exciton. If the polaron and the exciton have antiparallel spins, there exist strong repulsion between them. The polaron may be bounced back, be dissociated or pass through the exciton depending on the strength of the external electric field. In any of these cases, the polaron cannot break the exciton.     

二维高聚物振动谱的研究

聚乙炔和聚苯胺通常由于链间耦合比较弱 ,具有一维特性 .但在增加压力的条件下可以使其链间距b减少 ,当达到与晶格常数a相近的程度时 ,这时应考虑其晶格链间耦合作用 ,它们就具有二维复式晶格结构 ,由此会带来新的物理效应 .本文考虑了由于增压作用可以使高聚物晶格链间耦合作用增强 ,并使链间距b减少 ,当b达到与晶格常数a相比拟时 ,它们可以被看作具有二维晶格结构 .基于这种情况建立了理想的二维复式晶格链模型 ,利用晶格动力学的方法 ,计算其晶格链间及原子次近邻间的相互作用 ,借助计算机计算分别在几种晶格链耦合作用下和不同质量比时的色散关系 ,模拟色散曲线 ,讨论第一布里渊区BrillouinZone(BZ)中格波高对称线上频谱的变化 ,分析了由此会带来的新的物理效应 .     

Charge carrier photogeneration and transport in poly(methyl-phenylsilylene)

Optical excitations in poly(methyl-phenylsilylene) can be realized within the framework of a chemical bond in the polymer backbone or a side group skeleton. A charge transfer of the electron from the main chain to a side group is necessary to form stable ion-pairs. Dissociation of the ion-pairs can be described in terms of the Onsager theory of geminate recombination. The photogeneration efficiency can be improved by an electron acceptor doping. The charge carrier transport is influenced by two factors: delocalized movement inside the conjugated domains and intra- and interchain hopping. The electrostatic interactions of polar additives with polarons influence the polaron binding energy and the charge hopping.     

Hole polarons in poly(G)-poly(C) and poly(A)-poly(T) DNA molecules

The polaron might play an important role in the process of charge migration through duplex DNA stack. In the present work, we investigate properties of hole polarons in DNA molecules containing identical base pairs, such as poly(G)-poly(C) and poly(A)-poly(T), An extended tight-binding model (extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model), which involves the effect of an electric field in the direction of DNA stack, will be introduced. The transfer integral and electron-phonon coupling parameters in this model are obtained according to ab initio calculation for different base pair dimers. Calculations reveal that the polaron in poly(A)-poly(T) has a wider shape and a higher mobility under a specific electric field than that in poly(G)-poly(C) DNA stack.     

The role of disorder on the electronic structure of conjugated polymers. The case of poly-2,5-bis(phenylethynyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole

Insight into the electronic structure of disordered poly-2,5-bis(phenylethynyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazole in an amorphous region, in comparison to an ideal two-planar cofacial oligomer system, is pursued. The atomic structure of the amorphous polymer was obtained from classical molecular dynamics. It was subsequently used to calculate the electronic states and inter- and intrachain electronic coupling integrals using the density functional theory based charge patching method. The interchain electronic coupling integrals in the amorphous system were found to be an order of magnitude smaller than in the ordered system with similar distances between the chains. The results also suggest that the electronic structure of the whole system cannot be understood as a collection of the electronic structures of individual chains. The band gap of the whole system is significantly smaller than the band gaps of individual chains. This decrease originates from the disordered long range electrostatic potential created by the dipole moments of polymer repeat units, which should be minimized if one seeks good transport properties.     

Electrohydrodynamics of spherical polyampholyte‐grafted nanoparticles: Multiscale simulations by coupling of molecular dynamics and lattice‐boltzmann method

We perform multiscale simulations based on the coupling of molecular dynamics and lattice‐Boltzmann (LB) method to study the electrohydrodynamics of a polyampholyte‐grafted spherical nanoparticle. The long‐range hydrodynamic interactions are modeled by coupling the movement of particles to a LB fluid. Our results indicate that the net‐neutral soft particle moves with a nonzero mobility under applied electric fields. We systematically explore the effects of different parameters, including the chain length, grafting density, electric field, and charge sequence, on the structures of the polymer layer and the electrophoretic mobility of the soft particle. It shows that the mobility of nanoparticles has remarkable dependence on these parameters. We find that the deformation of the polyampholyte chains and the ion distribution play dominant roles in modulating the electrokinetic behavior of the polyampholyte‐grafted particle. The enhancement or reduction in the accumulation of counterions around monomers can be attributed to the polymer layer structure and the conformational transition of the chains in the electric field. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017 , 55, 1435–1447     

Theory of dilute polyampholyte solutions in external electrical fields

In this work we display recent findings on the conformations and dynamics of polyampholytes (PAs; polymers with positively and negatively charged monomers) in external electrical fields. We consider the case in which the interactions between the charges are less important (weak coupling limit) and also the case in which they are fundamental (strong coupling case). In the weak coupling limit we present analytical results for Gaussian and also for freely-jointed chains. Through scaling arguments we discuss the influence of the excluded volume on the PA's configurations. Furthermore we evaluate the dynamics of PAs in the framework of the Rouse and of the Zimm models. In the strong-coupling regime PAs with vanishing total charge form spherical globules. Using a droplet analogy we examine the response of PAs to external fields and show the onset of an instability reminiscent of a first-order phase transition.     

Dynamic studies of conjugated polymers by phase–modulation IR-spectroscopy

The application of phase–modulation infrared spectroscopy to the photoexcitation dynamics of conjugated polymers is described. The modulation-frequency dependencies of the intensity and phase delay of photoinduced absorption have been observed and simulated numerically on the basis of a model based on second-order kinetics involving a neutralization process between the positive and negative charge carriers (polarons) that are formed from a photogenerated interchain charge-transfer exciton (polaron pair). The rate constant of the bimolecular recombination process has been obtained. This numerical simulation is useful in analyzing the observed responses of a nonlinear system in the phase–modulation measurements.     

Exciton dissociation and charge carrier recombination processes in organic semiconductors

Exciton dissociation and charge recombination processes in organic semiconductors, with thermal effects taken into account, are described in this paper. Here, we analyzed the mechanisms of polaron-excitons dissociation into free charge carriers and the consequent recombination of those carriers under thermal effects on two parallel π-conjugated polymers chains electronically coupled. Our results suggest that exciton dissociation in a single molecule give rise to localized, polaron-like charge carrier. Besides, we concluded that in the case of interchain processes, the bimolecular polaron recombination does not lead to an usual exciton state. Rather, this type of recombination leads to an oscillating dipole between the two chains. The recombination time obtained here for these processes are in agreement with the experimental results. Finally, our results show that temperature effects are essential to the relaxation process leading to polaron formation in a single chain, as in the absence of temperature, this process was not observed. In the case of two chains, we conclude that temperature effects also help the bimolecular recombination process, as observed experimentally.     

Interaction of similarly charged surfaces mediated by nanoparticles

We study the interaction between two like charged surfaces embedded in a solution of oppositely charged multivalent rod-like counterions.The counterions consist of two rigidly bonded point charges,each of valency Z.The strength of the electrostatic coupling increases with increasing surface charge density or valency of the charges.The system is analyzed by employing a self-consistent field theory,which treats the short and long range interactions of the counterions within different approximations.We find that in the weak coupling limit,the interactions are only repulsive.In the intermediate coupling regime,the multivalent rod-like counterions can mediate attractive interactions between the surfaces. For sufficiently long rods,bridging contributes to the attractive interaction.In the strong coupling limit,the charge correlations can contribute to the attractive interactions at short separations between the charged surfaces.Two minima can then appear in the force curve between surfaces.     

Electrical properties of σ-conjugated polymers with additives and their applications in sensors

The charge carrier transport in poly[methyl(phenyl)silylene] (PMPSi) proceeds predominantly along the σ-delocalized Si backbone with participation of interchain hopping and polaron formation. The charge carrier mobility increases with increasing electron affinity of acceptor dopands having zero dipole moments. On the other band, the hole drift mobility is influenced by the dipole moment of the dopand. The electrostatic charge-dipole interactions cause a broadening of the energy distribution of transport states, which results in a decrease in the charge carrier mobility. An addition of organic salts leads, under the conditions of increased humidity, to an increase in electrical conductivity and capacitance. This is demonstrated on the layers PMPSi/1,5-dimorpholino-1,5-diphenylpentamethinium perchlorate.     

表面电荷及外电场对液固界面热阻的影响

采用非平衡分子动力学方法模拟了外电场及固体表面电荷对水与固体间界面热阻的影响. 结果表明,外加电场平行于界面时, 其对界面热阻几乎没有影响, 而垂直于界面时, 界面热阻将随着电场强度的增大而减小. 壁面带正电荷或负电荷都将使得界面热阻减小. 界面热阻与表面电荷密度及电场强度均满足二次函数关系. 模拟结果表明施加外电场和表面电荷是控制液固界面热阻的有效方法.     

Hopping charge transport in organic materials

General properties of the transport of charge carriers (electrons and holes) in disordered organic materials are discussed. It was demonstrated that the dominant part of the total energetic disorder in organic material is usually provided by the electrostatic disorder, generated by randomly located and oriented dipoles and quadrupoles. For this reason this disorder is strongly spatially correlated. Spatial correlation directly governs the field dependence of the carrier drift mobility. Shape of the current transients, which is of primary importance for a correct determination of the carrier mobility, is considered. A notable feature of the electro-static disorder is its modification in the vicinity of the electrode, and this modification takes place without modification of the structure of the material. It is shown how this phenomenon affects characteristics of the charge injection. We consider also effect of inter-charge interaction on charge transport.