A highly contorted push–pull naphthalenediimide dimer and evidence of intramolecular singlet exciton fission (original) (raw)
Related papers
Understanding the mechanism of singlet exciton fission, in which a singlet exciton separates into a pair of triplet excitons, is crucial to the development of new chromophores for efficient fission-sensitized solar cells. The challenge of controlling molecular packing and energy levels in the solid state precludes clear determination of the singlet fission pathway. Here, we circumvent this difficulty by utilizing covalent dimers of pentacene with two types of side groups. We report rapid and efficient intramolecular singlet fission in both molecules, in one case via a virtual charge-transfer state and in the other via a distinct charge-transfer intermediate. The singlet fission pathway is governed by the energy gap between singlet and charge-transfer states, which change dynamically with molecular geometry but are primarily set by the side group. These results clearly establish the role of charge-transfer states in singlet fission and highlight the importance of solubilizing groups to optimize excited-state photophysics.
Tuneable Singlet Exciton Fission and Triplet–Triplet Annihilation in an Orthogonal Pentacene Dimer
1 wileyonlinelibrary.com proceed on ultrafast (≈100 fs) time scales, allowing it to out-compete other decay channels and achieve high effi ciencies. [ 3 ] The essential condition for effi cient SEF is the energetic alignment of the singlet and triplet states, such that 2 E (T 1) ≤ E (S 1). A recent combined theoretical and experimental study of SEF rates in a range of acene solids has demonstrated that the rate of SEF is also greatly affected by the strength of intermolecular coupling within the fi lm. [ 4 ] In the canonical system, pentacene, triplet pair formation is exo-thermic and the intermolecular coupling is strong, resulting in SEF with an 80 fs time constant and nearly 200% yield. [ 5 ] Though most experimental studies of SEF have involved crystalline, polycrystalline or amorphous solids, the most basic unit capable of SEF is a pair of chromophores. Indeed, it was recently demonstrated in concentrated solutions of TIPS-pentacene that singlet fi ssion can proceed at high efficiency through bimolecular diffusional interactions. [ 6 ] However , early attempts to directly control the interaction between chromophores through the use of covalent dimers have not been as successful. The most notable systems in this regard are tetracene and 1,3-diphenylisobenzofuran. These materials are found to exhibit effi cient SEF in the solid state, but their covalent dimers achieved triplet yields of only a few percent. In both of these studies, [ 7 ] the two SEF chromophores were joined by a range of linkers to modify the strength of the electronic coupling between them, with the aim of tuning the rate and effi ciency of SEF. The impact was subtle, and it thus remains unclear why covalent dimers have proved ineffi cient to date. Current models suggest that dimers should be asymmetric or contain signifi cant cofacial interaction between chromophores to attain high triplet yields. [ 2,8 ] Interestingly, a recent study of pentacene dimers separated by a phenyl spacer unit achieved triplet yields above 100% in spite of using the same symmetric bonding motifs of the earlier tetracene dimers. [ 9 ] In this work, we report highly effi cient intramolecular SEF in a new type of covalent dimer, with triplet yields of up to 192 ± 3%. The molecule used in this study, 13,13′-bis(mesityl)-6,6′-dipentacenyl (DP-Mes, Figure 1 a), consists of two pen-tacenes directly bonded through a single C C bond with two bulky mesityl groups at the meso-positions. The geometry of the dimer, with two nearly orthogonal pentacene cores, is unlike Fast and highly effi cient intramolecular singlet exciton fi ssion in a pentacene dimer, consisting of two covalently attached, nearly orthogonal pentacene units is reported. Fission to triplet excitons from this ground state geometry occurs within 1 ps in isolated molecules in solution and dispersed solid matrices. The process exhibits a sensitivity to environmental polarity and competes with geometric relaxation in the singlet state, while subsequent triplet decay is strongly dependent on conformational freedom. The near orthogonal arrangement of the pentacene units is unlike any structure currently proposed for effi cient singlet exciton fi ssion and may lead to new molecular design rules.
Due to its ability to offset thermalization losses in photoharvesting systems, singlet fission has become a topic of research interest. During singlet fission, a high energy spin-singlet state in an organic semiconductor divides its energy to form two lower energy spin-triplet excitations on neighboring chromophores. While key insights into mechanisms leading to singlet fission have been gained recently, developing photostable compounds that undergo quantitative singlet fission remains a key challenge. In this report, we explore triplet exciton production via singlet fission in films of perylenediimides, a class of compounds with a long history of use as industrial dyes and pigments due to their photostability. As singlet fission necessitates electron transfer between neighboring molecules, its rate and yield depend sensitively on their local arrangement. By adding different functional groups at their imide positions, we control how perylenediimides pack in the solid state. We find inducing a long axis displacement of ∼3 Å between neighboring perylenediimides gives a maximal triplet production yield of 178% with a fission rate of ∼245 ps despite the presence of an activation barrier of ∼190 meV. These findings disagree with Marcus theory predictions for the optimal perylenediimide geometry for singlet fission, but do agree with Redfield theory calculations that allow singlet fission to occur via a charge transfer-mediated superexchange mechanism. Unfortunately, triplets produced by singlet fission are found to decay over tens of nanoseconds. Our results highlight that singlet fission materials must be designed to not only produce triplet excitons but to also facilitate their extraction.
Spin density encodes intramolecular singlet exciton fission in pentacene dimers
Nature Communications
The formation of two triplet excitons at the cost of one photon via singlet exciton fission in organic semiconductors can potentially enhance the photocurrent in photovoltaic devices. However, the role of spin density distribution in driving this photophysical process has been unclear until now. Here we present the significance of electronic spin density distribution in facilitating efficient intramolecular singlet exciton fission (iSEF) in π-bridged pentacene dimers. We synthetically modulate the spin density distribution in a series of pentacene dimers using phenyl-, thienyl-and selenyl-flanked diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) derivatives as π-bridges. Using femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy, we find that efficient iSEF is only observed for the phenyl-derivative in~2.4 ps while absent in the other two dimers. Electronic structure calculations reveal that phenyl-DPP bridge localizes αand β-spin densities on distinct terminal pentacenes. Upon photoexcitation, a spin exchange mechanism enables iSEF from a singlet state which has an innate triplet pair character.
New insights into the design of conjugated polymers for intramolecular singlet fission
Nature communications, 2018
Singlet fission (SF), a multiple exciton generation process that generates two triplet excitons after the absorption of one photon, can potentially enable more efficient solar cell designs by harvesting energy normally lost as heat. While low-bandgap conjugated polymers are highly promising candidates for efficient SF-based solar cells, few polymer materials capable of SF have been reported because the SF process in polymer chains is poorly understood. Using transient spectroscopy, we demonstrate a new, highly efficient (triplet yield of 160-200%) isoindigo-based donor-acceptor polymer and show that the triplet pairs are directly emissive and exhibit a time-dependent energy evolution. Importantly, aggregation in poor solvents and in films significantly lowers the singlet energy, suppressing triplet formation because the energy conservation criterion is no longer met. These results suggest a new design rule for developing intramolecular SF capable low-bandgap conjugated polymers, whe...
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2019
An adamantane-linked tetracene dyad (Tc-Ad-Tc) undergoes exergonic intramolecular singlet fission (SF), producing longlived (t = 175 µs) and high-energy (2 ´ 1.03 eV) multiexciton. Time-resolved absorption, fluorescence decay, and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopic analysis revealed that the long-lived triplet species is generated in this system via correlated triplet pair having singlet and quintet characteristics. Time-resolved EPR analysis revealed formation of syn-and anti-conformers in the quintet, i.e. 5 (3 Tc-Ad-3 Tc)*. The quintet generation requires small conformational motion to induce singlet-quintet spin relaxation. The presence of aliphatic linkages, like the rigid adamantane group, may enable effective conservation of intrinsic high S1 and T1 levels of the original monomers, moderate bridge-mediated s-p interaction leading to exergonic intramolecular SF involving 1 Tc*-Ad-Tc ® 1 (3 Tc-Ad-3 Tc)*, and prevention of undesirable triplet-triplet annihilation, finally result in long-lived and high-energy multiexciton.
Intra- to Intermolecular Singlet Fission
The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2015
Singlet fission, the splitting of one singlet into two triplets, can potentially increase the efficiency of optoelectronic devices beyond conventional limits. Among the singlet fission molecules discovered to date, two mechanisms have emerged: intra-or intermolecular singlet fission. Here we show a combined intra-to intermolecular singlet fission mechanism in the model system of diphenyl-dicyano-oligoene (DPDC). Excitation of DPDC to the first optically bright state leads to the ultrafast formation of an intramolecular triplet pair, which decays in 40 ps in the solution phase but can also split competitively in 30 ps into two long-lived triplets (2×T 1) on adjacent molecules in solid films. These findings suggest a design principle for efficient singlet fission: the independent tuning of singlet−triplet pair coupling and triplet pair splitting from intra-and intermolecular interactions, respectively.
Maximizing Singlet Fission by Intermolecular Packing
The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2014
A novel nonadiabatic molecular dynamics scheme is applied to study the singlet fission (SF) process in pentacene dimers as a function of longitudinal and lateral displacements of the molecular backbones. Detailed twodimensional mappings of both instantaneous and long-term triplet yields are obtained, characterizing the advantageous and unfavorable stacking arrangements, which can be achieved by chemical substitutions to the bare pentacene molecule. We show that the SF rate can be increased by more than an order of magnitude through tuning the intermolecular packing, most notably when going from cofacial to the slipped stacked arrangements encountered in some pentacene derivatives. The simulations indicate that the SF process is driven by thermal electron−phonon fluctuations at ambient and high temperatures, expected in solar cell applications. Although charge-transfer states are key to construct continuous channels for SF, a large charge-transfer character of the photoexcited state is found to be not essential for efficient SF. The reported time domain study mimics directly numerous laser experiments and provides novel guidelines for designing efficient photovoltaic systems exploiting the SF process with optimum intermolecular packing.
Solution-based intramolecular singlet fission in cross-conjugated pentacene dimers
Nanoscale, 2016
We show unambiguous and compelling evidence by means of pump-probe experiments, which are complemented by calculations using ab initio multireference perturbation theory, for intramolecular singlet fission (SF) within two synthetically tailored pentacene dimers with cross-conjugation, namely XC1 and XC2. The two pentacene dimers differ in terms of electronic interactions as evidenced by perturbation of the ground state absorption spectra stemming from stronger through-bond contributions in XC1 as confirmed by theory. Multiwavelength analysis, on one hand, and global analysis, on the other hand, confirm that the rapid singlet excited state decay and triplet excited state growth relate to SF. SF rate constants and quantum yields increase with solvent polarity. For example, XC2 reveals triplet quantum yields and rate constants as high as 162 ± 10% and (0.7 ± 0.1) × 10 12 s −1 , respectively, in room temperature solutions. † Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See
Evidence for exciton fission and fusion in a covalently linked tetracene dimer
Chemical Physics Letters, 2006
A photophysical study of the covalently linked tetracene dimer 1,4-bis(tetracen-5-yl)benzene is presented. While the dimer's steady state spectroscopy is similar to that of monomeric tetracene, it also exhibits a long-lived fluorescence signal in solution and solid polyethylene films, which is absent in the monomer. The behavior of this long-lived component as a function of temperature and oxygenation provides evidence that a small (<1%) fraction of the singlet excited states undergoes fission into two triplet states, which recombine on the order of 100 ns. A kinetic model based on this mechanism fits the fluorescence decay data quantitatively.