Recently developed all-organic emitters used in display applications achieve high brightness by harvesting triplet populations via thermally activated delayed fluorescence. The photophysical properties of these emitters therefore involve new inherent complexities and are strongly affected by interactions with their host material in the solid state. Ensemble measurements occlude the molecular details of how host-guest interactions determine fundamental properties such as the essential balance of singlet oscillator strength and triplet harvesting. Therefore, using time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy, we interrogate these emitters at the single-molecule level and compare their properties in two distinct glassy polymer hosts. We find that nonbonding interactions with aromatic moieties in the host appear to mediate the molecular configurations of the emitters, but also promote nonradiative quenching pathways. We also find substantial heterogeneity in the time-resolved photoluminescence of these emitters, which is dominated by static disorder in the polymer. Finally, since singlet-triplet cycling underpins the mechanism for increased brightness, we present the first room-temperature measurement of singlet-triplet equilibration dynamics in this family of emitters. Our observations present a molecular-scale interrogation of host-guest interactions in a disordered film, with implications for highly efficient organic light-emitting devices. Combining a single-molecule experimental technique with an emitter that is sensitive to triplet dynamics, yet read out via fluorescence, should also provide a complementary approach to performing fundamental studies of glassy materials over a large dynamic range of time scales.

Using two-photon tomography, carrier lifetimes are mapped in polycrystalline CdTe photovoltaic devices. These 3D maps probe subsurface carrier dynamics that are inaccessible with traditional optical techniques. They reveal that CdCl treatment of CdTe solar cells suppresses nonradiative recombination and enhances carrier lifetimes throughout the film with substantial improvements particularly near subsurface grain boundaries and the critical buried p-n junction.

The effects of Na and RbF alkali treatment on the metastability behavior of CdS/Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells are investigated with stress factors of heat, junction bias, and illumination. Four device types with and without Na or RbF treatments are subjected to heat‐ and light‐soaking under open‐ and short‐circuit (OC, SC) junction bias. Low‐Na devices show a higher bandgap due to increased minimum Ga content, higher recombination current, and lower open‐circuit voltage (VOC). Devices with RbF post‐deposition treatment (PDT) show an improvement in net doping density ≈1016 cm−3, VOC, and efficiency. Heat‐ and light‐soaking under OC junction bias provokes an increase in net carrier concentration and VOC irrespective of the alkali treatments. After SC stress, a decrease in VOC and net carrier concentration is observed, which can be stabilized by RbF‐PDT. An increase in Na and oxygen concentration in CIGS is observed for baseline and low‐Na devices, respectively, after OC stress. The oxygen concentration in CdS decreases after heat‐ and light‐soaking for devices without RbF‐PDT, whereas it remains unchanged for devices with RbF‐PDT. The atomic concentration profiles in CIGS significantly stabilize as a function of stress with the addition of RbF‐PDT.

No abstract