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Elucidating photophysics-photochemistry relationship in singlet fission materials

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Abstract

Photodegradation poses a significant challenge in organic optoelectronic devices; understanding its relationship with photophysics is necessary for optimizing optoelectronic performance and photostability. We study such relationship in singlet fission (SF) materials TIPS-Pentacene (TIPS-Pn) and tetracene derivatives (R-Tc) with different morphologies. We explore how photochemistry can promote understanding of intermolecular processes such as SF through the evolution of excited states during photodegradation. Photoluminescence emission competitive to SF experiences a large increase in yield during photodegradation as SF pathways are disabled from either endoperoxide formation (in air) or photodimerization (without air) degradation processes. We observe morphology-dependent photodimerization in TIPS-Pn films and R-Tc crystals and multiple emissive states in R-Tc crystals. The ‘slip-stack’ packing motif in R-Tc crystals favors formation of emissive trap states and promotes photodimerization. In strong external magnetic fields that suppress SF in R-Tc, enhanced photodimerization is observed, which suggests that morphologies conducive to triplet pair separation could reduce photodimerization.

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Data availability

Data sets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF CHE-1956431). The synthesis of organic semiconductors was supported by the NSF DMR (DMREF-1627428). Sample fabrication and characterization was partially performed in NSF-funded user facilities via NNCI:NNI EECS-2025489 and MRI DMR-1920368 grants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, 97331, USA

    Winston T. Goldthwaite, Michael O. Chase, Madalyn R. Gragg, Roshell Lamug & Oksana Ostroverkhova

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, 40511, USA

    Dean Windemuller, Sean Parkin & John E. Anthony

Authors
  1. Winston T. Goldthwaite
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  2. Michael O. Chase
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  3. Madalyn R. Gragg
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  5. Dean Windemuller
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  7. John E. Anthony
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  8. Oksana Ostroverkhova
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Contributions

WG, MC, and MG prepared samples, collected data, and wrote the manuscript. RL fabricated encapsulated samples for dimerization studies. DW and JA synthesized the organic compounds. SP performed crystallography. OO supervised the project and edited the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Oksana Ostroverkhova.

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Goldthwaite, W.T., Chase, M.O., Gragg, M.R. et al. Elucidating photophysics-photochemistry relationship in singlet fission materials. MRS Advances (2024). https://doi.org/10.1557/s43580-024-00797-1

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