2,3,5,6-tetra?uoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) is used as a dopant in polymer/fullerene solar cell materials to tune the Fermi level of the polymer. However, the understanding of structural interactions between F4-TCNQ and polymer chains is lacking. F4-TCNQ forms strong charge transfer complexes with the prototypical poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) system, which planarizes the P3HT backbone and causes agglomeration of P3HT chains. Resonance Raman and optical spectra showed decreased aggregation of P3HT chains upon increasing F4-TCNQ concentration while corresponding TEM images showed larger but, poorly aggregated, P3HT rich domains. Density function theory (DFT) calculations on oligothiophene surrogates corroborate experimental results and show increased planarity of the backbone upon interaction with F4-TCNQ.

Understanding structural interactions between poly(3-hexylthiophene) and 2,3,5,6-tetrafluoro-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane charge transfer complexes

246th National Meeting (2013)

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