Light-induced X,W-band Electron Spin Resonance study of double-crystalline donor-acceptor P3HT-b-PPerAcr block copolymers in solid thin films

• Published in: Synthetic metals 2016-05, Vol.215, p.251-259
• Main Authors: Konkin, A., Singh, C.R., Orlinskii, S., Mamin, G., Aganov, A., Lohwasser, R., Ritter, U., Scharff, P., Thelakkat, M., Hoppe, H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acrylates; Block copolymers; Crystal structure; Donor/acceptor block-copolymer; Electron paramagnetic resonance; Electron spin resonance; Light induced W-band ESR; Photovoltaic cells; Segments; Solar cells; Thin films
• ISSN: 0379-6779; 1879-3290
• DOI: 10.1016/j.synthmet.2016.02.002

•The effective charge separation process observation due to intramolecular electron transfer in donor-acceptor block copolymer.•A competition for the PPerAcr acceptor in BCPs from other effective fullerene derivatives used as additives to BCPs has not been observed.•b-PPerAcr anion radical registration and description by W-band ESR.•The confirmation of insignificant b-PPerAcr block π-stacks ordering in solar cells film by W-band ESR. Light-induced X,W-band Electron Spin Resonance (LESR) study of double-crystalline donor-acceptor block copolymers (BCPs) comprised of poly-3-hexylthiophene as the donor and poly-perylene bisimide acrylate as the acceptor segments is presented. It is suggested that, while the intrinsic light-induced charge separation efficiency in the BCPs registered by LESR could be more efficient than in bulk heterojunction solar cells based on the P3HT/PCBM blends, the photovoltaic performance of the BCPs is limited significantly by the incorrect orientation of crystalline π-stack morphology of (poly-perylene bisimide acrylate) domains.