Triplet Generation Dynamics in Si- and Ge-Bridged Conjugated Copolymers

In this work, the authors, including TYC Co-Director Rachel Crespo-Otero, use real-time transient absorption spectroscopy and quantum chemical calculations to explain why the incorporation of Si in the backbone of semiconductor polymers can boost the triplet excitons generation 4 times faster than with the heavier atom Ge. Si copolymers exhibit this behaviour due to their increased flexibility in the excited state, which allows for larger geometric distortions. This mechanism can be used for fine-tuning excited-state properties.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c09253

Authors: 

F. J. Hernandez; Z. Fei; C. Osborne; R. Crespo-Otero; M. Heeney; S. Dimitrov
Featured in: J. Phys. Chem. C 2022, 126, 1036-1045