Linking microscale morphologies to localised performance in singlet fission quantum dot photon multiplier thin films

Toolan, Daniel T. W.; Weir, Michael P.; Dowland, Simon; Winkel, Jurjen F.; Willmott, Jon R.; Zhang, Zhilong; Gray, Victor; Xiao, James; Petty, Anthony J.; Anthony, John E.; Greenham, Neil C.; Friend, Richard H.; Rao, Akshay; Jones, Richard A.L.; Ryan, Anthony J.

Abstract

Hybrid small-molecule/quantum dot films have the potential to reduce thermalization losses in single-junction photovoltaics as photon multiplication devices. Here grazing incidence X-ray scattering, optical microscopy and IR fluorescence microscopy (probing materials at two distinct wavelengths), provide new insight into highly complex morphologies across nm and μm lengthscales to provide direct links between morphologies and photon multiplication performance. Results show that within the small molecule crystallites three different QD morphologies may be identified; (i) large quantum dot aggregates at the crystallite nucleus, (ii) relatively well-dispersed quantum dots and (iii) as aggregated quantum dots “swept” from the growing crystallite and that regions containing aggregate quantum dot features lead to relatively poor photon multiplication performance. These results establish how combinations of scattering and microscopy may be employed to reveal new insights into the structure and function of small molecule:quantum dot blends.

Citation

Toolan, D. T. W., Weir, M. P., Dowland, S., Winkel, J. F., Willmott, J. R., Zhang, Z., Gray, V., Xiao, J., Petty, A. J., Anthony, J. E., Greenham, N. C., Friend, R. H., Rao, A., Jones, R. A., & Ryan, A. J. (2022). Linking microscale morphologies to localised performance in singlet fission quantum dot photon multiplier thin films. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 10(31), 11192-11198. https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tc00677d

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 16, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Jul 18, 2022
• Publication Date: Jul 18, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 9, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 12, 2022
• Journal: Journal of Materials Chemistry C
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-7534
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 31
• Pages: 11192-11198
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/d2tc00677d
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/9906628
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2022/TC/D2TC00677D