Issue 42, 2010
From the journal:

Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics

Vibrational solvatochromism in organic photovoltaic materials: method to distinguish molecules at donor/acceptor interfaces

Ryan D. Pensack,a   Kyle M. Banyasa  and  John B. Asbury*a  

* Corresponding authors

a Department of Chemistry, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA
E-mail: jasbury@psu.edu

Abstract

We report the observation of vibrational solvatochromism in organic photovoltaic materials. The frequency of the carbonyl (C[double bond, length as m-dash]O) stretch of the methyl ester group of the functionalized fullerene, PCBM, is sensitive to the local phase separated morphology of polymer blends and bilayers incorporating the fullerene. In particular, PCBM molecules at interfaces with conjugated polymers exhibit higher frequency carbonyl stretch vibrations in comparison to molecules imbedded in the interiors of PCBM clusters/layers. The resulting frequency gradient was recently used to examine the dynamics of charge photogeneration in a blend of the conjugated polymer, CN-MEH-PPV, with PCBM. In this contribution, we explore the origin of the frequency shift and show that it arises from variations in the inhomogeneous solvent environments experienced by PCBM molecules as a result of phase separation in the polymer blend.

Graphical abstract: Vibrational solvatochromism in organic photovoltaic materials: method to distinguish molecules at donor/acceptor interfaces

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Article information

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/C0CP00971G
Article type
Paper
Submitted
23 Jun 2010
Accepted
26 Aug 2010
First published
27 Sep 2010

Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010,12, 14144-14152

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Vibrational solvatochromism in organic photovoltaic materials: method to distinguish molecules at donor/acceptor interfaces

R. D. Pensack, K. M. Banyas and J. B. Asbury, Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys., 2010, 12, 14144 DOI: 10.1039/C0CP00971G

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