Charge separation at nanostructured molecular donor-acceptor interfaces

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Wolfgang Brütting; Professor Dr. Norbert Koch; Professor Dr. Jens Pflaum; Professor Dr. Frank Schreiber
• Subject Area: Experimental Condensed Matter Physics
• Term: from 2008 to 2016
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 65983783

Organic donor and acceptor molecules represent an important class of materials for solar energy conversion. The focus of this project is to combine the expertise of four groups to address the correlation between film and interface morphology and the photoelectrical properties in excitonic solar cells. Having investigated a variety of different prototypical donor/acceptor pairs during the first funding period, in this second phase of the project we will focus our efforts on selected, particularly promising D/A combinations. The goal of this multilateral approach is to develop a detailed understanding of the correlation between structural and electronic properties, microscopic transport phenomena and macroscopic parameters determining solar cell performance for different prototypes of donor-acceptor pairs. This knowledge will enable us to control the growth of films with favourable conditions for exciton and charge transport in both the donor and acceptor phase and efficient charge separation and extraction at the involved interfaces. From planar heterojunctions we will now proceed to more complex structures, including interdigitated organic/organic interfaces and bulk heterojunctions to achieve this goal. Our work is a concerted effort to investigate and correlate various aspects of the individual materials and their combinations by bringing complementary competencies together in a joint project.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1355: Elementary Processes of Organic Photovoltaics
• Participating Person: Privatdozent Dr. Andreas Opitz