Polymer-fullerene miscibility: a metric for screening new materials for high-performance organic solar cells.

The improvement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of polymer bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells has generally been achieved through synthetic design to control frontier molecular orbital energies and molecular ordering of the electron-donating polymer. An alternate approach to control the PCE of a BHJ is to tune the miscibility of the fullerene and a semiconducting polymer by varying the structure of the fullerene. The miscibility of a series of 1,4-fullerene adducts in the semiconducting polymer, poly(3-hexylselenophene), P3HS, was measured by dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry using a model bilayer structure. The microstructure of the bilayer was investigated using high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission microscopy and linked to the polymer-fullerene miscibility. Finally, P3HS:fullerene BHJ solar cells were fabricated from each fullerene derivative, enabling the correlation of the active layer microstructure to the charge collection efficiency and resulting PCE of each system. The volume fraction of polymer-rich, fullerene-rich, and polymer-fullerene mixed domains can be tuned using the miscibility leading to improvement in the charge collection efficiency and PCE in P3HS:fullerene BHJ solar cells. These results suggest a rational approach to the design of fullerenes for improved BHJ solar cells.

"Deconvoluted fullerene" derivatives: synthesis and characterization.

We have designed the synthesis of "deconvoluted fullerene" derivatives that present an ordered pattern of hexagons and pentagons in the backbone of the molecule. We not only mimicked the fullerene structure in dihedral planes, but also preserved its electron accepting behavior and enlarged its optical absorption. Moreover, very preliminary photoluminescence (PL) quenching experiments also confirmed the potentiality of these materials as acceptors in the field of organic photovoltaics (OPV)s. A brief discussion of the surface morphology, based on AFM analysis, is also presented.

Phthalocyanine blends improve bulk heterojunction solar cells.

A core phthalocyanine platform allows engineering of the solubility properties the band gap, shifting the maximum absorption toward the red. A simple method for increasing the efficiency of heterojunction solar cells uses a self-organized blend of phthalocyanine chromophores fabricated by solution processing.

Melamine-bridged bis(porphyrin-Zn(II)) receptors: molecular recognition properties.

Dimeric metalloporphyrin hosts with tweezer-like structures have been synthesized by reacting the cyanuric chloride scaffold, CC, with 5-(4-aminophenyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin, P, and 5-(4-aminophenyl)-10,15,20-trimesitylporphyrin, M, to yield the homoconjugates free bases PP and MM and the heterodyad PM. Metalation with Zn(II), gives three structurally related ditopic receptors P(Zn)P(Zn), P(Zn)M(Zn), and M(Zn)M(Zn) with differential steric hindrance and conformational rigidity. The solution structure and supramolecular properties of these porphyrin dimers have been investigated as isolated molecules and in the presence of aliphatic alpha,omega-diamines of general formula H(2)N-(CH(2))(n)-NH(2) (n = 4-8) by spectroscopic and theoretical studies including multidimensional NMR, UV-vis, molecular modeling, and computational NMR methods. Binding constants in the range 4.2 x 10(6) to 3.4 x 10(7) M(-1) are observed in dichloromethane at 298 K, with a 3 orders of magnitude increase as compared to monodentate nBuNH(2), thus indicating the occurrence of a host-guest ditopic interaction. Linear correlation graphs are obtained by plotting the Soret band shift (Delta nu, cm(-1)) of the complex as a function of the diamine chain length. Combined NMR evidence and OPLS 2005 Force Field conformational analysis point to a mutual adaptation of both the binding partners in the host-guest complex, whose geometry is mainly dictated by the steric impact of the bulky substituents at the porphyrin periphery.

Fabrication of metal nanoparticles using toroidal plasmid DNA as a sacrificial mold.

A new method for synthesizing gold, nickel, and cobalt metal nanoparticles at room temperature from metal salts employing plasmid DNA in a toroidal topology as a sacrificial mold is presented. The diameter of the toroidal DNA drives the formation and size of the nanoparticle, and UV light initiates the oxidation of the DNA and concomitant reduction of the DNA bound metal ions. The nanoparticles were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron diffraction (ED).

Self-organization of a new fluorous porphyrin and C60 films on indium-tin-oxide electrode.

The highly fluorinated alkyl moieties of a new porphyrin drive the self-organization of thin films with C(60) on ITO electrodes.

One-pot synthesis of cyanuric acid-bridged porphyrin-porphyrin dyads.

Stepwise amination of cyanuric chloride (1) with 5-(4-aminophenyl)-10,15,20-triphenylporphyrin (2) and/or its zinc(II) complex (3) enables the synthesis of porphyrin-porphyrin dyads with predetermined free base-free base forms or free base-zinc and zinc-zinc metalation states. Furthermore, the use of aminopropyl-silanized silica gel as a scavenger for unwanted byproducts allowed the one-pot synthesis of title porphyrin compounds in high yield and purity with minimum use of preparative column chromatography.