Photooxidation of PC₆₀BM: new insights from spectroscopy

Abstract

This joint experimental-theoretical spectroscopy study of the fullerene derivative PC60BM ([6,6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester) aims to improve the understanding of the effect of photooxidation on its electronic structure. We have...

Organic Semiconductor Interfaces and Their Effects in Organic Solar Cells†

“…To investigate the sensitivity of fullerene acceptors to water vapor and oxygen, semiconductor films should be handled under inert conditions and the evolution of the electronic structure should be detected under dark conditions by controlling the volume of the water vapor or oxygen gas to exclude photochemical degradation. [ 133‐136 ] Bao et al . studied in situ oxygen and water vapor effects on fullerene acceptor [6,6]‐phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM).…”

“…To investigate the sensitivity of fullerene acceptors to water vapor and oxygen, semiconductor films should be handled under inert conditions and the evolution of the electronic structure should be detected under dark conditions by controlling the volume of the water vapor or oxygen gas to exclude photochemical degradation. [133][134][135][136] Bao et al studied in situ oxygen and water vapor effects on fullerene acceptor [6,6]-phenyl C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM). [137] The frontier electronic structures mapped by UPS show no changes when the PC 61 BM films deposited on different conducting substrates with a wide range of work functions were exposed to oxygen under the controlled oxygen gas pressure, neither in the distribution nor in the intensity of the spectra, and the IPs keep constant.…”

Photostability of Y-type electron acceptor molecules and related copolymer

“…The cycloaddition mechanism yields photooxidation products, including dicarbonyls and anhydrides, which cause cage opening and loss of conjugation. [4,5] However, it is difficult to extrapolate such knowledge to NFAs due to their very distinct structures when compared to fullerenes as well as the diversity of electron acceptor materials that can be designed by combining different chemical units. Additionally, the electronic structure of NFAs is usually more complex than that of the fullerene derivatives, which are composed by the fullerene cage and a functional group.…”