This work aims to investigate the effects of current density, electrolyte temperature and substrate composition on the morphology of porous anodic films formed on AA 2024-T3 alloy in sulphuric acid electrolytes and the factors that determine the transition between linear and sponge-like film porosities. Comparisons were made with pure aluminium. Particular attention is given to understanding the rising voltage that occurs during galvanostatic hard anodizing of the alloy and the role of oxygen in the anodizing process. Conditions were selected to be representative of typical hard and conventional anodizing processes. SEM was employed to observe the film morphology, which was then correlated with the voltage-time responses. The anodic film composition was investigated by TEM/EDX and SEM/EDX to determine the effect of alloy element enrichment and cell diameter on the distribution of copper species in the film. A real-time gravimetric method was developed to measure the rate of oxygen evolution during anodizing and its influence on the anodizing voltage and film morphology. Results showed that hard anodic films on AA 2024-T3 alloy formed at relatively high voltages have linear pores and cells, contrasting with sponge-like porosity under conventional anodizing. The linear porosity is shown to depend on the voltage, with a morphological transition occurring in the range 25 to 30 V, with linear cells promoted by a high current density and/or low electrolyte temperature. As the film thickens with time, pore blockage by oxygen bubbles, impedes oxidation of the alloy leading to current re-distribution and hence localized increases in the current density producing a rise of the anodizing voltage as anodizing proceeds. The rise of the anodizing voltage, which leads to an increasing call diameter and barrier layer thickness, has a minor influence on the rate of oxygen evolution, which typically consumes about 20 % of the applied current density. In contrast, the voltage rise in the presence of sponge-like films is comparatively negligible, which is suggested to be due to easier escape of oxygen from the film. The films comprising linear cells contain more copper than the sponge-like films, with copper being enriched at the cell boundaries. Moreover, a model is proposed to explain the enrichment of copper, suggesting that above a critical cell diameter, an alloy enrichment sufficient for oxidation of the alloying element can be maintained across the alloy/film interface. Below this diameter, the enrichment is less than that necessary for oxidation, and the alloying element is then incorporated into the film at the cell boundaries.

Research on pi-conjugated organic materials in the recent past has produced enormous developments in the field of organic electronics and it is mainly due to their applications in electronic devices such as organic field effect transistors (OFETs), organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) and organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). The primary goal of this research work is to design and synthesize high performing charge transport organic semiconductors. One of the criteria for better performance of the organic thin film transistor (OTFT) is to have high uniform thin film morphology of the organic semiconductor layer on the substrate. The first project in this dissertation has been directed towards improving the thin film morphology of the functionalized pentacenes through liquid crystalline behaviour. The results have suggested the possibility of thermotropic liquid crystalline phases in 6,13-bis(diisopropylhexylsilylethynyl) pentacene which has no pi-stacking in its solid state and the presence of silyl group at the peri-position is crucial for the stability of the functionalized pentacenes. In the second project, i have investigated the effect of alkyl groups with varying chain length on the anthradithiophene chromophore on the performance of the charge transporting devices. Organic blend cell based on solution processable 2,8-diethyl-5,12-bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene has showed 1% power conversion efficiency and the performance is mainly attributed to the large crystalline phase segregation of the functionalized anthradithiophene from the amorphous soluble fullerene derivative matrix. OTFT study on alkyl substituted functionalized anthradithiophenes suggested the need of delegate balance between thin film morphology and the crystal packing. Third project has been directed towards synthesizing halogen substituted functionalized anthradithiophenes and their influence in the performance of OFETs. OTFT made of 2,8-difluoro-5,12-bis(triethylsilylethynyl) anthradithiophene produced devices with thin film hole mobilities greater than 1 cm2/Vs. The result suggested that the device is not contact limited rather this high performance OTFTs are due to the contact induced crystallinity of the organic semiconductor.

Since their discovery, organic electronic materials have been of great interest as an alternative active layer material for active area materials in electronic applications. Initially studied as probes or lasing material the field has progressed to the point where both conjugated polymers and small organics have become fashionable objects of current device oriented solid state research. Organic electronic materials are liquid crystalline materials, packing into well-ordered domains when annealed thermally or via solvent annealing. The macromolecular orientation of the molecules in the solid state causes a shift in the electronic properties due to coupling of the dipoles. The amount of interaction between molecules can be correlated to different nanoscale morphologies. Such morphologies can be measured using microscopy techniques and compared to the spectroscopic results. This can then be extrapolated out to infer how the charges move within a film. Cyanine dyes represent an interesting form class of dyes as the molecular packing is strongly affected by hydrophilic and hydrophobic pendent groups, which cause the dye to arrange into a tubular bilayer. Spectroelectrochemistry is used to monitor and controllably oxidize the samples. Using singular value decomposition (SVD) it is possible to extract each electronic species formed during electrochemical oxidation and model the proposed species using semi empirical quantum mechanical calculations. Polyfluorene is a blue luminescent polymer of interest for its high quantum yield. The solution and solid-state conformation has shown two distinct phases. The formation of the secondary phase shows a dependence on the molecular weight. In a poor solvent, as the molecular weight increases, the secondary phase forms easier. In the solid state, the highly efficient blue emission from polyfluorene is degraded by ketone defects. The energy transfer to preexisting ketone defects is increased as the filmed is thermally ordered. Glass transitions of block copolymers are studied using synthetically novel polymers where an environmentally sensitive fluorescent reporter is placed within various regions of a self-assembled film. Different dynamics are observed within the block of the film then specifically at the interface of two blocks. / text

The field of organic electronics has become an increasingly important field of research in recent years. Organic based semiconductors have the potential for creating inexpensive, solution processed devices on flexible substrates. Some of the applications of organic semiconductors include organic field effect transistors, organic light emitting diodes and organic photovoltaics. Functionalized pentacenes have been proven to be viable donor materials for use in organic photovoltaic devices. The goal of this research is to synthesize and test the viability of novel electron deficient pentacenes and pentacene based materials as acceptors to be used as drop-in replacements for PCBM in bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells. Our goal was to tune and improve the efficiencies of these solar cells in a two pronged approach. First we tuned the open circuit voltage of these devices by determining the optimal energy levels of these acceptors by varying the number of electron withdrawing substituents on the acene core. We also tuned the short circuit current by chemically altering the solid state packing and optimizing device processing conditions. A preliminary structure-property relationship of these small molecule acceptors and photovoltaic device efficiency was established as a result.

Stable organic semiconductors are critical to produce inexpensive, efficient and flexible thin film organic solar cells. A current chemical focus is the synthesis of stable, electron-accepting materials to be utilized as an acceptor layer in photovoltaics.1 The Anthony group has shown that the functionalization of pentacene with suitable electron withdrawing groups provides a catalog of suitable acceptors for this purpose.2 These pentacenes can be further modified to pack in a unique 1-dimensional "sandwich herringbone" crystal packing, leading to improved device current.3 To improve the stability of acene acceptors, we have taken two hetero-atom themed approaches. First, we have studied the acenequinone as an electron-accepting chromophore.4 Further, we replaced the terminal aromatic rings with heterocycles, such as furan or thiophene. In order to enhance the crystal engineering versatility of the chromophore, we utilize c-fused heterocycles (rather than the more commonly used b-fused cycles seen in e.g. anthradithiophenes). The c-fused acenequinones can be tetra-functionalized with silylethynyl groups to influence crystal packing and increase solubility.5 The silylethyne groups are known to increase the photostability and lower the energy gap (Eg) of pentacenes.5 The functionalization of the silylethyne groups also aids in lowering the lowest unoccupied orbital (LUMO) of acene structures.5

The anodic films formed on CP-Ti in sulphuric and phosphoric acids using potentiodynamic polarization and potentiostatic anodizing were investigated. Single-barrier anodic films were created in sulphuric and phosphoric acids from 10 to 60 V. Oxygen evolution was initiated within both stages, leading to the suppression of current efficiency for the growth of anodic films. The crystalline phases assisted gas bubbles to develop within the film, resulting in the formation of the blister textures. The rupture of the anodic film was found from anodizing at 20 V in the sulphuric acid but occurred at 50 V in the phosphoric acid. The corrosion behaviour of the anodic oxide films formed on CP-Ti was studied in a 3.5% NaCl electrolyte. Ruptures and blisters of the films were found as a result of the release of a huge pressure by the bursting of oxygen bubbles. More ruptures were observed when anodizing to higher anodic voltages in the sulphuric and phosphoric acids. Further, the anodic films showed more ruptures after the anodized titanium specimens at higher anodic voltages were immersed for 60 days in the NaCl electrolyte compared with the immediate immersions. Additionally, the corrosion behaviours of the anodic films were examined by potentiodynamic polarization and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The corrosion resistance of the anodized titanium in the NaCl electrolyte increased with increased anodic voltage. Porous anodic films were formed on CP-Ti after anodizing at 100, 150 and 200 V for 900 s respectively. Nano-particulates were found within the pores; the size and quantity of the pores increased due to the dissolution of the particulates. The amorphous-to-crystalline transition was initiated during anodizing. It was revealed that the degree of crystallinity was greater at a higher voltage. An increased content of phosphorus species was incorporated into the porous oxide film as the voltage increased. The formation of anodic oxide films on CP-Ti in the NaTESi electrolyte was investigated. Barrier-type titanium anodic films generated after anodizing to 5, 10 and 20 V were of thickness 30, 37 and 67 nm respectively. Further, a porous anodic film of ~80.0 nm thickness was generated after anodizing to 40 V. Significant amounts of sodium species were found, which were incorporated into the anodic films. The current efficiency for the film growth was reduced at higher anodic voltages due to the formation of crystalline phases and more oxygen generation. The degree of crystallinity of the anodic film increased at higher voltages. The dielectric permittivity of the anodic film was estimated as ~2.35 according to EIS and the TEM evidence. The degradation test was carried out in a continuous climatic chamber with a humidity of 90% at 50 oC. The anodic films formed on CP-Ti in the NaTESi electrolyte showed an excellent degradation resistance. Single-lap bonding tests were operated for the study of the adhesion joint performance, and the bonding strength increased with increase of the voltage associated with a thicker anodic TiO2 coatings. The formation of anodic oxide films on the Ti6Al4V alloy in the NaTESi electrolyte at a constant current density of 20 mA cm-2 was studied. An anodic film with shallow pores was formed after anodizing to 10 V. Porous anodic films were created after anodizing to 20, 30 and 40 V respectively. Significant amounts of sodium species were incorporated into the films. The current efficiency for the anodic film growth increased from 10 to 30 V but decreased from 30 to 40 V due to oxygen evolution. The film thicknesses determined by RBS were ~15 nm, ~39 nm, ~1100 nm and 1800 nm for voltages of 10, 20, 30 and 40 V respectively. The film thickness at 10 V showed good agreement with 11 nm which was evident by TEM. The degree of crystallinity of the films was greater at a higher voltage. The dielectric permittivity of the film was ~118 according to the results of TEM and EIS. The degradation test was carried out in a continuous climatic chamber with a humidity of 90% at 50oC. Without the evidence of damages, the anodic films formed on Ti6Al4V alloy in the NaTESi electrolyte showed an excellent degradation resistance. In addition, it was evident that the film formed after anodizing to 40 V was crystallized at the thermal temperature of 50 oC. Single-lap bonding tests were employed to compare the strength of adhesively joined titanium alloy anodized with different film thicknesses, the results revealing a significant benefit from a thicker film. The ~100 nm thick 99.6% pure titanium layers were sputter-deposited on electropolished aluminium substrates by magnetron sputtering technique to investigate the anodic film growth behaviour of titanium in H3PO4. The TiO2 and the Ti layer were ruptured by the bursting of oxygen bubbles. The phosphoric acid electrolyte penetrated into the ruptured regions of the sputter-deposited titanium layer, leading to the growth of Al2O3. The thickness of TiO2 increased from 10 to 100 V but decreased from 100 to 150 V. Above 80 V, some regions of the titanium layer where were completely ruptured did not generate TiO2. Important structural details of anodic films with high quality images were obtained using the STEM-in-SEM technique, enabling the study of film morphologies, film thicknesses and oxygen bubble features. STEM-in-SEM would be used to study a large-scale morphology of the anodic film. Additionally, a 6-specimen carousel holder would provide an increase in productivity by ~20% compared with a conventional single-specimen STEM or TEM. An air-formed oxide film was stripped from CP-Ti substrate by chemical etching in the bromine-methanol electrolyte, exposing the bare titanium substrate and grain boundaries with defects. After that, pitting corrosion occurred on the bare titanium due to the attack of bromine. The corrosion pits propagated with etching time from 10 to 300 s and were displayed using white light interferometry. Increased surface roughness was identified with etching time due to the occurrence of more pitting corrosion attacks. Bromine species and TiBr4 compounds were detected by EDS and X-ray diffraction patterns, indicating that the dissolution of the titanium substrate was induced in each etching.

The rapidly increasing power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs) above 10% were made possible by concerted international research activities in the last few years, aiming to understand the processes that lead to the generation of free charge carriers following photon absorption. Despite these efforts, many details are still unknown, especially how these processes can be improved already at the drawing board of molecular design. To unveil this information, dicyanovinyl end-capped oligothiophene derivatives (DCVnTs) are used as a model system in this thesis, allowing to investigate the impact of small structural changes on the molecular properties and the final solar cells. On thin films of a methylated DCV4T derivative, the influence of the measurement temperature on the charge carrier generation process is investigated. The observed temperature activation in photoinduced absorption (PIA) measurements is attributed to an increased charge carrier mobility, increasing the distance between the charges at the donor/acceptor (D/A) interface and, thus, facilitating their final dissociation. The correlation between the activation energy and the mobility is confirmed using a DCV6T derivative with lower mobility , exhibiting a higher activation energy for charge carrier generation. Another parameter to influence the charge carrier generation process is the molecular structure. Here, alkyl side chains with varying length are introduced and their influence on the intramolecular energy levels as well as the absorption and emission properties in pristine and blend films with the acceptor C60 are examined. The observed differences in intermolecular order (higher order for shorter side chains) and phase separation in blend layers (larger phase separation for shorter side chains) are confirmed in PIA measurements upon comparing the temperature dependence of the triplet exciton lifetimes. A proposed correlation between the side chain length and the coupling between D and A, which is crucial for efficient charge transfer, is not confirmed. The presented flat heterojunction solar cells underline this conclusion, giving similar photocurrent densities for all compounds. Differences in PCE are related to shifts of the energy levels and the morphology of the blend layer in bulk heterojunction devices. Furthermore, the impact of the electric field on the charge carrier generation yield is investigated in a proof-of-principle study, introducing PIA measurements in transmission geometry realized using semitransparent solar cells. The recombination analysis of the photogenerated charge carriers reveals two recombination components. Trapped charge carriers or bound charge pairs at the D/A interface are proposed as an explanation for this result. The miscibility of D and A, which can be influenced by heating the substrate during layer deposition, is of crucial importance to obtain high PCEs. In this work, the unusual negative influence of the substrate temperature on DCV4T:C60 blend layers in solar cells is investigated. By using optical measurements and structure determination tools, a rearrangement of the DCV4T crystallites is found to be responsible for the reduced absorption and, therefore, photocurrent at higher substrate temperature. The proposed blend morphology at a substrate temperature of 90° C is characterized by a nearly complete demixing of the D and A phases. This investigation is of particular relevance, because it shows the microscopic origins of a behavior that is contrary to the increase of the PCE upon substrate heating usually reported in literature. Finally, the optimization steps to achieve a record PCE of 7.7% using a DCV5T derivative as donor material are presented, including the optimization of the substrate temperature, the active layer thickness, and the transport layers. / Der rasante Anstieg des Wirkungsgrads von organischen Solarzellen über die Marke von 10% war nur durch länderübergreifende Forschungsaktivitäten während der letzten Jahre möglich. Trotz der gemeinsamen Anstrengungen, die Prozesse, die zwischen der Absorption der Photonen und der Ladungsträgererzeugung liegen, genauer zu verstehen, sind einige Fragen jedoch immer noch ungelöst, z.B. wie diese Prozesse schon auf dem Reißbrett durch die gezielte Änderung bestimmter Molekülstrukturen optimiert werden können. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, werden in dieser Arbeit Dicyanovinyl-substituierte Oligothiophene (DCVnTs) verwendet. Diese Materialien bieten die Möglichkeit, kleine strukturelle Änderungen vorzunehmen, deren Einfluss auf die molekularen und auf die Solarzelleneigenschaften untersucht werden soll. Der Einfluss der Messtemperatur auf den Prozess der Ladungsträgertrennung wird hier an einer methylierten DCV4T-Verbindung in einer dünnen Schicht untersucht. Die bei photoinduzierter Absorptionsspektroskopie (PIA) beobachtete Aktivierung dieses Prozesses mit zunehmender Temperatur wird auf eine erhöhte Ladungsträgerbeweglichkeit zurückgeführt. Der dadurch erhöhte effektive Abstand der Ladungen an der Grenzfläche zwischen Donator (D) und Akzeptor (A) erleichtert die endgültige Trennung der Ladungsträger. Durch den Vergleich mit einer DCV6T-Verbindung wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Aktivierungsenergie und der Beweglichkeit bekräftigt. Die kleinere Beweglichkeit äußert sich dabei in einer größeren Aktivierungsenergie. Darüber hinaus kann der Ladungsträgergenerationsprozess auch von der Molekülstruktur abhängen. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie sich die Länge von Alkylseitenketten auf die Energieniveaus der Moleküle, aber auch auf die Absorptions- und Lumineszenzeigenschaften der Materialien in reinen und in Mischschichten mit dem Akzeptor C60 äußert. Die ermittelten Unterschiede bezüglich der Molekülordnung (geordneter für kürzere Seitenketten) und der Phasengrößen in Mischschichten (größere Phasen bei kürzerer Kettenlänge) werden in der Untersuchung der Temperaturabhängigkeit der Lebensdauer von Triplettexzitonen mittels PIA-Messungen bestätigt. Für Solarzellen ist von Bedeutung, ob sich die Seitenkettenlänge auf die Wechselwirkung zwischen D und A auswirkt. Der vermutete Zusammenhang wird hier nicht bestätigt. Ein ähnlicher Photostrom für alle untersuchten Verbindungen in Solarzellen mit planaren Heteroübergängen unterstreicht diese Schlussfolgerung. Unterschiede im Wirkungsgrad werden auf Änderungen der Energieniveaus und die Morphologie in Mischschichtsolarzellen zurückgeführt. Des Weiteren wird in einer Machbarkeitsstudie der Einfluss des elektrischen Felds auf die Generationsausbeute freier Ladungsträger untersucht. Dafür werden halbtransparente Solarzellen verwendet, die es ermöglichen, PIA-Messungen in Transmissionsgeometrie durchzuführen. Als mögliche Erklärung für das Auftreten zweier Rekombinationskomponenten in der Analyse des Rekombinationsverhaltens der durch Licht erzeugten Ladungsträger werden eingefangene Ladungsträger und gebundene Ladungsträgerpaare an der D/A-Grenzfläche genannt. Das Mischverhalten von D und A kann durch ein Heizen des Substrates während des Verdampfungsprozesses eingestellt werden, was von entscheidender Bedeutung für eine weitere Steigerung des Wirkungsgrades ist. Für DCV4T:C60-Mischschichtsolarzellen wird jedoch eine Verschlechterung des Wirkungsgrads zu höheren Substrattemperaturen beobachtet. Durch optische Messungen und Methoden zur Schichtstrukturbestimmung wird dieser Effekt auf eine Umordnung der DCV4T-Kristallite für hohe Substrattemperaturen und die damit verbundene Verringerung der Absorption und damit auch des Photostroms zurückgeführt. Bei einer Substrattemperatur von 90° C sind die D- und A-Komponenten fast vollständig entmischt. Dieses Beispiel ist von besonderer Bedeutung, weil hier die Ursachen für ein Verhalten aufgezeigt werden, das entgegen den Beispielen aus der Literatur eine Abnahme des Wirkungsgrads beim Aufdampfen der aktiven Schicht auf ein geheiztes Substrat zeigt. Schließlich werden die Optimierungsschritte dargelegt, mit denen Solarzellen mit einer DCV5T-Verbindung als Donatormaterial auf einen Rekordwirkungsgrad von 7,7% gebracht werden. Dabei wird die Substrattemperatur, die Dicke der aktiven Schicht und die Transportschichten angepasst.

The rapidly increasing power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs) above 10% were made possible by concerted international research activities in the last few years, aiming to understand the processes that lead to the generation of free charge carriers following photon absorption. Despite these efforts, many details are still unknown, especially how these processes can be improved already at the drawing board of molecular design. To unveil this information, dicyanovinyl end-capped oligothiophene derivatives (DCVnTs) are used as a model system in this thesis, allowing to investigate the impact of small structural changes on the molecular properties and the final solar cells. On thin films of a methylated DCV4T derivative, the influence of the measurement temperature on the charge carrier generation process is investigated. The observed temperature activation in photoinduced absorption (PIA) measurements is attributed to an increased charge carrier mobility, increasing the distance between the charges at the donor/acceptor (D/A) interface and, thus, facilitating their final dissociation. The correlation between the activation energy and the mobility is confirmed using a DCV6T derivative with lower mobility , exhibiting a higher activation energy for charge carrier generation. Another parameter to influence the charge carrier generation process is the molecular structure. Here, alkyl side chains with varying length are introduced and their influence on the intramolecular energy levels as well as the absorption and emission properties in pristine and blend films with the acceptor C60 are examined. The observed differences in intermolecular order (higher order for shorter side chains) and phase separation in blend layers (larger phase separation for shorter side chains) are confirmed in PIA measurements upon comparing the temperature dependence of the triplet exciton lifetimes. A proposed correlation between the side chain length and the coupling between D and A, which is crucial for efficient charge transfer, is not confirmed. The presented flat heterojunction solar cells underline this conclusion, giving similar photocurrent densities for all compounds. Differences in PCE are related to shifts of the energy levels and the morphology of the blend layer in bulk heterojunction devices. Furthermore, the impact of the electric field on the charge carrier generation yield is investigated in a proof-of-principle study, introducing PIA measurements in transmission geometry realized using semitransparent solar cells. The recombination analysis of the photogenerated charge carriers reveals two recombination components. Trapped charge carriers or bound charge pairs at the D/A interface are proposed as an explanation for this result. The miscibility of D and A, which can be influenced by heating the substrate during layer deposition, is of crucial importance to obtain high PCEs. In this work, the unusual negative influence of the substrate temperature on DCV4T:C60 blend layers in solar cells is investigated. By using optical measurements and structure determination tools, a rearrangement of the DCV4T crystallites is found to be responsible for the reduced absorption and, therefore, photocurrent at higher substrate temperature. The proposed blend morphology at a substrate temperature of 90° C is characterized by a nearly complete demixing of the D and A phases. This investigation is of particular relevance, because it shows the microscopic origins of a behavior that is contrary to the increase of the PCE upon substrate heating usually reported in literature. Finally, the optimization steps to achieve a record PCE of 7.7% using a DCV5T derivative as donor material are presented, including the optimization of the substrate temperature, the active layer thickness, and the transport layers.:Abstract - Kurzfassung Publications Contents 1 Introduction 2 Elementary Processes in Organic Semiconductors 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Optical Excitations in Organic Materials 2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 Radiative Processes: Absorption and Emission 2.2.3 Non-radiative Relaxation Processes 2.2.4 Triplet Excitons and Intersystem Crossing 2.3 Polarization Effects and Disorder 2.4 Transport Processes in Disordered Organic Materials 2.4.1 Charge Transport 2.4.1.1 The Bässler Model 2.4.1.2 Marcus Theory for Electron Transfer 2.4.1.3 Small Polaron Model 2.4.1.4 Functional Dependencies of the Charge Carrier Mobility 2.4.2 Diffusive Motion 2.4.3 Exciton Transfer Mechanisms 2.4.4 Characteristics of Exciton Diffusion 2.5 Charge Photogeneration in Pristine Materials 3 Organic Photovoltaics 3.1 General Introduction to Solar Cell Physics 3.2 Introduction to the Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Concept 3.3 The Open-Circuit Voltage in Organic Solar Cells 3.4 Doping of Organic Semiconductors 3.5 Introduction to the p-i-n Concept 3.6 Charge Transfer Excitons in Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Systems 3.6.1 Introduction 3.6.2 Verification of Charge Transfer Excitons in Donor/Acceptor Systems 3.7 The Process Cascade for Free Charge Carrier Generation in Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Systems 3.7.1 The Initial Charge Transfer Step 3.7.2 The Binding Energy of the Charge Transfer Exciton 3.7.3 \"Hot\" Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.4 \"Cold\" Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.5 Supposed Influence Factors on Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.6 Recombination Pathways for Charge Transfer Excitons 3.7.7 Free Charge Carrier Formation and Recombination 4 Experimental Methods 4.1 Sample Preparation 4.2 Material Characterization Methods 4.2.1 Optical Characterization 4.2.2 Cyclic Voltammetry 4.2.3 Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy 4.2.4 Atomic Force Microscopy 4.2.5 Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction 4.2.6 Organic Field-Effect Transistor 4.3 Photoinduced Absorption Spectroscopy 4.3.1 Introduction 4.3.2 Derivation of the PIA Signal 4.3.3 Recombination Dynamics 4.3.4 Intensity Dependence of the PIA Signal 4.4 Solar Cell Characterization 4.4.1 External Quantum Efficiency 4.4.2 Spectral Mismatch Correction 4.4.3 Current-Voltage Characteristics 4.4.4 Optical Device Simulations 4.4.5 Optical Device Transmission Measurements 5 The Oligothiophene Material System 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Thermal Stability 5.3 Energy Levels 5.4 Optical Properties of the Pristine Materials 5.5 The Donor/Acceptor Couple: DCVnT and C60 5.6 Solar Cell Devices 5.7 Summary 6 Temperature Dependence of Charge Carrier Generation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Principal Introduction to the PIA Measurements 6.2.1 Interpretation of the Spectra 6.2.2 Interpretation of the Frequency Scans 6.3 Temperature Dependence of the Spectra 6.4 Discussion of the Temperature Dependent Processes in the Blend Layer 6.5 Temperature Activated Free Charge Carrier Generation 6.5.1 Evaluation of the Activation Energy for the DCV4T-Me:C60 Blend 6.5.2 Comparison to a Sexithiophene Derivative (DCV6T-Me) 6.6 Summary 7 Side Chain Investigation on Quaterthiophene Derivatives 7.1 Energy Levels 7.2 Optical Properties 7.2.1 Solution and Pristine Films 7.2.2 Mixed Films with C60 7.3 Influence of the Side Chain Length on the Intermolecular Coupling 7.3.1 PIA Spectra of Pristine and Blend Layers at 10K 7.3.2 Recombination Analysis for Pristine and Blend Films at 10K 7.4 The Influence of the Side Chain Length on the Offset Charge Carrier Generation Rate at Low Temperature 7.5 In the High-Temperature Limit: Implications for Solar Cell Devices 7.5.1 PIA Spectra in Pristine and Blend Films at 200K 7.5.2 Recombination Analysis: Triplet Excitons and Free Charge Carriers 7.6 Solar Cells 7.6.1 Flat Heterojunction Devices 7.6.2 Bulk Heterojunction Devices 7.7 Summary 8 Electric-Field Dependent PIA Measurements on Complete Solar Cell Devices 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells 8.3 Photoinduced Absorption Measurements 8.4 Summary and Outlook 9 The Effect of Substrate Heating During Layer Deposition on the Performance of DCV4T:C60 BHJ Solar Cells 9.1 Introduction 9.2 The Importance of Morphology Control for BHJ Solar Cells 9.3 The Impact of Substrate Heating on DCV4T:C60 BHJ Solar Cells 9.4 Absorption and Photoluminescence 9.5 Topographical Investigations (AFM) 9.6 X-ray Investigations 9.6.1 1D GIXRD Measurements 9.6.2 2D GIXRD Measurements 9.7 Proposed Morphological Picture and Confirmation Measurements 9.7.1 Morphology Sketch of the DCV4T:C60 Blend Layer 9.7.2 Confirmation Measurements 9.8 The Equivalence of Temperature and Time 9.9 Summary 10 Record Solar Cells Using DCV5T-Me33 as Donor Material 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Influence of the Substrate Temperature 10.3 Determination of the Optical Constants 10.4 Stack Optimization 10.5 Summary and Outlook 11 Conclusions and Outlook 11.1 Summary of the Photophysical Investigations 11.2 Summary of Device Investigations 11.3 Future Challenges Appendix A Detailed Description of the Experimental Setup for PIA Spectroscopy Appendix B Determination of the Triplet Level by Differential PL Measurements Appendix C Additional Tables and Figures Appendix D Reproducibility of the Solar Cell Results (Statistics) Appendix E Lists Bibliography Acknowledgments / Der rasante Anstieg des Wirkungsgrads von organischen Solarzellen über die Marke von 10% war nur durch länderübergreifende Forschungsaktivitäten während der letzten Jahre möglich. Trotz der gemeinsamen Anstrengungen, die Prozesse, die zwischen der Absorption der Photonen und der Ladungsträgererzeugung liegen, genauer zu verstehen, sind einige Fragen jedoch immer noch ungelöst, z.B. wie diese Prozesse schon auf dem Reißbrett durch die gezielte Änderung bestimmter Molekülstrukturen optimiert werden können. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, werden in dieser Arbeit Dicyanovinyl-substituierte Oligothiophene (DCVnTs) verwendet. Diese Materialien bieten die Möglichkeit, kleine strukturelle Änderungen vorzunehmen, deren Einfluss auf die molekularen und auf die Solarzelleneigenschaften untersucht werden soll. Der Einfluss der Messtemperatur auf den Prozess der Ladungsträgertrennung wird hier an einer methylierten DCV4T-Verbindung in einer dünnen Schicht untersucht. Die bei photoinduzierter Absorptionsspektroskopie (PIA) beobachtete Aktivierung dieses Prozesses mit zunehmender Temperatur wird auf eine erhöhte Ladungsträgerbeweglichkeit zurückgeführt. Der dadurch erhöhte effektive Abstand der Ladungen an der Grenzfläche zwischen Donator (D) und Akzeptor (A) erleichtert die endgültige Trennung der Ladungsträger. Durch den Vergleich mit einer DCV6T-Verbindung wird der Zusammenhang zwischen der Aktivierungsenergie und der Beweglichkeit bekräftigt. Die kleinere Beweglichkeit äußert sich dabei in einer größeren Aktivierungsenergie. Darüber hinaus kann der Ladungsträgergenerationsprozess auch von der Molekülstruktur abhängen. In dieser Arbeit wird untersucht, wie sich die Länge von Alkylseitenketten auf die Energieniveaus der Moleküle, aber auch auf die Absorptions- und Lumineszenzeigenschaften der Materialien in reinen und in Mischschichten mit dem Akzeptor C60 äußert. Die ermittelten Unterschiede bezüglich der Molekülordnung (geordneter für kürzere Seitenketten) und der Phasengrößen in Mischschichten (größere Phasen bei kürzerer Kettenlänge) werden in der Untersuchung der Temperaturabhängigkeit der Lebensdauer von Triplettexzitonen mittels PIA-Messungen bestätigt. Für Solarzellen ist von Bedeutung, ob sich die Seitenkettenlänge auf die Wechselwirkung zwischen D und A auswirkt. Der vermutete Zusammenhang wird hier nicht bestätigt. Ein ähnlicher Photostrom für alle untersuchten Verbindungen in Solarzellen mit planaren Heteroübergängen unterstreicht diese Schlussfolgerung. Unterschiede im Wirkungsgrad werden auf Änderungen der Energieniveaus und die Morphologie in Mischschichtsolarzellen zurückgeführt. Des Weiteren wird in einer Machbarkeitsstudie der Einfluss des elektrischen Felds auf die Generationsausbeute freier Ladungsträger untersucht. Dafür werden halbtransparente Solarzellen verwendet, die es ermöglichen, PIA-Messungen in Transmissionsgeometrie durchzuführen. Als mögliche Erklärung für das Auftreten zweier Rekombinationskomponenten in der Analyse des Rekombinationsverhaltens der durch Licht erzeugten Ladungsträger werden eingefangene Ladungsträger und gebundene Ladungsträgerpaare an der D/A-Grenzfläche genannt. Das Mischverhalten von D und A kann durch ein Heizen des Substrates während des Verdampfungsprozesses eingestellt werden, was von entscheidender Bedeutung für eine weitere Steigerung des Wirkungsgrades ist. Für DCV4T:C60-Mischschichtsolarzellen wird jedoch eine Verschlechterung des Wirkungsgrads zu höheren Substrattemperaturen beobachtet. Durch optische Messungen und Methoden zur Schichtstrukturbestimmung wird dieser Effekt auf eine Umordnung der DCV4T-Kristallite für hohe Substrattemperaturen und die damit verbundene Verringerung der Absorption und damit auch des Photostroms zurückgeführt. Bei einer Substrattemperatur von 90° C sind die D- und A-Komponenten fast vollständig entmischt. Dieses Beispiel ist von besonderer Bedeutung, weil hier die Ursachen für ein Verhalten aufgezeigt werden, das entgegen den Beispielen aus der Literatur eine Abnahme des Wirkungsgrads beim Aufdampfen der aktiven Schicht auf ein geheiztes Substrat zeigt. Schließlich werden die Optimierungsschritte dargelegt, mit denen Solarzellen mit einer DCV5T-Verbindung als Donatormaterial auf einen Rekordwirkungsgrad von 7,7% gebracht werden. Dabei wird die Substrattemperatur, die Dicke der aktiven Schicht und die Transportschichten angepasst.:Abstract - Kurzfassung Publications Contents 1 Introduction 2 Elementary Processes in Organic Semiconductors 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Optical Excitations in Organic Materials 2.2.1 Introduction 2.2.2 Radiative Processes: Absorption and Emission 2.2.3 Non-radiative Relaxation Processes 2.2.4 Triplet Excitons and Intersystem Crossing 2.3 Polarization Effects and Disorder 2.4 Transport Processes in Disordered Organic Materials 2.4.1 Charge Transport 2.4.1.1 The Bässler Model 2.4.1.2 Marcus Theory for Electron Transfer 2.4.1.3 Small Polaron Model 2.4.1.4 Functional Dependencies of the Charge Carrier Mobility 2.4.2 Diffusive Motion 2.4.3 Exciton Transfer Mechanisms 2.4.4 Characteristics of Exciton Diffusion 2.5 Charge Photogeneration in Pristine Materials 3 Organic Photovoltaics 3.1 General Introduction to Solar Cell Physics 3.2 Introduction to the Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Concept 3.3 The Open-Circuit Voltage in Organic Solar Cells 3.4 Doping of Organic Semiconductors 3.5 Introduction to the p-i-n Concept 3.6 Charge Transfer Excitons in Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Systems 3.6.1 Introduction 3.6.2 Verification of Charge Transfer Excitons in Donor/Acceptor Systems 3.7 The Process Cascade for Free Charge Carrier Generation in Donor/Acceptor Heterojunction Systems 3.7.1 The Initial Charge Transfer Step 3.7.2 The Binding Energy of the Charge Transfer Exciton 3.7.3 \"Hot\" Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.4 \"Cold\" Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.5 Supposed Influence Factors on Charge Transfer Exciton Dissociation 3.7.6 Recombination Pathways for Charge Transfer Excitons 3.7.7 Free Charge Carrier Formation and Recombination 4 Experimental Methods 4.1 Sample Preparation 4.2 Material Characterization Methods 4.2.1 Optical Characterization 4.2.2 Cyclic Voltammetry 4.2.3 Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy 4.2.4 Atomic Force Microscopy 4.2.5 Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction 4.2.6 Organic Field-Effect Transistor 4.3 Photoinduced Absorption Spectroscopy 4.3.1 Introduction 4.3.2 Derivation of the PIA Signal 4.3.3 Recombination Dynamics 4.3.4 Intensity Dependence of the PIA Signal 4.4 Solar Cell Characterization 4.4.1 External Quantum Efficiency 4.4.2 Spectral Mismatch Correction 4.4.3 Current-Voltage Characteristics 4.4.4 Optical Device Simulations 4.4.5 Optical Device Transmission Measurements 5 The Oligothiophene Material System 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Thermal Stability 5.3 Energy Levels 5.4 Optical Properties of the Pristine Materials 5.5 The Donor/Acceptor Couple: DCVnT and C60 5.6 Solar Cell Devices 5.7 Summary 6 Temperature Dependence of Charge Carrier Generation 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Principal Introduction to the PIA Measurements 6.2.1 Interpretation of the Spectra 6.2.2 Interpretation of the Frequency Scans 6.3 Temperature Dependence of the Spectra 6.4 Discussion of the Temperature Dependent Processes in the Blend Layer 6.5 Temperature Activated Free Charge Carrier Generation 6.5.1 Evaluation of the Activation Energy for the DCV4T-Me:C60 Blend 6.5.2 Comparison to a Sexithiophene Derivative (DCV6T-Me) 6.6 Summary 7 Side Chain Investigation on Quaterthiophene Derivatives 7.1 Energy Levels 7.2 Optical Properties 7.2.1 Solution and Pristine Films 7.2.2 Mixed Films with C60 7.3 Influence of the Side Chain Length on the Intermolecular Coupling 7.3.1 PIA Spectra of Pristine and Blend Layers at 10K 7.3.2 Recombination Analysis for Pristine and Blend Films at 10K 7.4 The Influence of the Side Chain Length on the Offset Charge Carrier Generation Rate at Low Temperature 7.5 In the High-Temperature Limit: Implications for Solar Cell Devices 7.5.1 PIA Spectra in Pristine and Blend Films at 200K 7.5.2 Recombination Analysis: Triplet Excitons and Free Charge Carriers 7.6 Solar Cells 7.6.1 Flat Heterojunction Devices 7.6.2 Bulk Heterojunction Devices 7.7 Summary 8 Electric-Field Dependent PIA Measurements on Complete Solar Cell Devices 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells 8.3 Photoinduced Absorption Measurements 8.4 Summary and Outlook 9 The Effect of Substrate Heating During Layer Deposition on the Performance of DCV4T:C60 BHJ Solar Cells 9.1 Introduction 9.2 The Importance of Morphology Control for BHJ Solar Cells 9.3 The Impact of Substrate Heating on DCV4T:C60 BHJ Solar Cells 9.4 Absorption and Photoluminescence 9.5 Topographical Investigations (AFM) 9.6 X-ray Investigations 9.6.1 1D GIXRD Measurements 9.6.2 2D GIXRD Measurements 9.7 Proposed Morphological Picture and Confirmation Measurements 9.7.1 Morphology Sketch of the DCV4T:C60 Blend Layer 9.7.2 Confirmation Measurements 9.8 The Equivalence of Temperature and Time 9.9 Summary 10 Record Solar Cells Using DCV5T-Me33 as Donor Material 10.1 Introduction 10.2 The Influence of the Substrate Temperature 10.3 Determination of the Optical Constants 10.4 Stack Optimization 10.5 Summary and Outlook 11 Conclusions and Outlook 11.1 Summary of the Photophysical Investigations 11.2 Summary of Device Investigations 11.3 Future Challenges Appendix A Detailed Description of the Experimental Setup for PIA Spectroscopy Appendix B Determination of the Triplet Level by Differential PL Measurements Appendix C Additional Tables and Figures Appendix D Reproducibility of the Solar Cell Results (Statistics) Appendix E Lists Bibliography Acknowledgments