POLARON DYNAMICS. Long-lived photoinduced polaron formation in conjugated polyelectrolyte-fullerene assemblies

Rachel C Huber; Amy S Ferreira; Robert Thompson; Daniel Kilbride; Nicholas S Knutson; Lekshmi Sudha Devi; Daniel B Toso; J Reddy Challa; Z Hong Zhou; Yves Rubin; Benjamin J Schwartz; Sarah H Tolbert

doi:10.1126/science.aaa6850

POLARON DYNAMICS. Long-lived photoinduced polaron formation in conjugated polyelectrolyte-fullerene assemblies

Science. 2015 Jun 19;348(6241):1340-3. doi: 10.1126/science.aaa6850.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA.
² Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and the Biomedical Engineering Program, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
³ Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, and the Biomedical Engineering Program, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
⁴ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA. tolbert@chem.ucla.edu schwartz@chem.ucla.edu rubin@chem.ucla.edu.
⁵ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA. The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. tolbert@chem.ucla.edu schwartz@chem.ucla.edu rubin@chem.ucla.edu.
⁶ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA), Los Angeles, CA 90095-1569, USA. The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. tolbert@chem.ucla.edu schwartz@chem.ucla.edu rubin@chem.ucla.edu.

Abstract

The efficiency of biological photosynthesis results from the exquisite organization of photoactive elements that promote rapid movement of charge carriers out of a critical recombination range. If synthetic organic photovoltaic materials could mimic this assembly, charge separation and collection could be markedly enhanced. We show that micelle-forming cationic semiconducting polymers can coassemble in water with cationic fullerene derivatives to create photoinduced electron-transfer cascades that lead to exceptionally long-lived polarons. The stability of the polarons depends on the organization of the polymer-fullerene assembly. Properly designed assemblies can produce separated polaronic charges that are stable for days or weeks in aqueous solution.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Electron Transport
Fullerenes / chemistry*
Photosynthesis*
Polymers / chemistry*
Semiconductors

Substances

Fullerenes
Polymers

POLARON DYNAMICS. Long-lived photoinduced polaron formation in conjugated polyelectrolyte-fullerene assemblies

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

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