Optically tunable spin-exchange energy at donor:acceptor interfaces in organic solar cells

Abstract

Spin-exchange energy is a critical parameter in controlling spin-dependent optic, electronic, and magnetic properties in organic materials. This article reports optically tunable spin-exchange energy by studying the line-shape characteristics in magnetic field effect of photocurrent developed from intermolecular charge-transfer states based on donor:acceptor (P3HT:PCBM) system. Specifically, we divide magnetic field effect of photocurrent into hyperfine (at low field < 10 mT) and spin-exchange (at high field > 10 mT) regimes. We observe that increasing photoexcitation intensity can lead to a significant line-shape narrowing in magnetic field effect of photocurrent occurring at the spin-exchange regime. We analyze that the line-shape characteristics is essentially determined by the changing rate of magnetic field-dependent singlet/triplet ratio when a magnetic field perturbs the singlet-triplet transition through spin mixing. Based on our analysis, the line-shape narrowing results indicate that the spin-exchange energy at D:A interfaces can be optically changed by changing photoexcitation intensity through the interactions between intermolecular charge-transfer states. Therefore, our experimental results demonstrate an optical approach to change the spin-exchange energy through the interactions between intermolecular charge-transfer states at donor:acceptor interface in organic materials.

Document Details

Document Type
Pub Defense Publication
Publication Date
Jul 14, 2014
Source ID
10.1063/1.4889807

Entities

People

  • Bin Hu
  • Hengxing Xu
  • Hongfeng Wang
  • Huidong Zang
  • Lei He
  • Mingxing Li

Organizations

  • Air Force Office of Scientific Research
  • University of Tennessee

Tags

Fields of Study

  • Physics

Readers

  • Materials Science and Engineering.
  • Quantum spin resonance or Electron Paramagnetic Resonance spectroscopy.
  • Solar Photovoltaics and Thermoelectric Devices.

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics