Role of structural fluctuations and environmental noise in the electron/hole separation kinetics at organic polymer bulk-heterojunction interfaces

TL;DR

This study uses a combined molecular mechanics and quantum mechanics approach to explore how structural fluctuations and environmental noise influence electron/hole separation dynamics at organic photovoltaic interfaces, revealing rapid mixing and decay into charge-separated states.

Contribution

It introduces a heuristic model linking energy gap fluctuations to electronic couplings, providing new insights into ultrafast charge separation mechanisms in OPV systems.

Findings

Charge transfer states fluctuate on a 20 fs timescale.

Electronic states rapidly mix due to bond fluctuations.

Interfacial states decay into charge-separated states supporting efficient carrier generation.

Abstract

We investigate the electronic dynamics of model organic photovoltaic (OPV) system consisting of polyphenylene vinylene (PPV) oligomers and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM) blend using a mixed molecular mechanics/quantum mechanics (MM/QM) approach. Using a heuristic model that connects energy gap fluctuations to the average electronic couplings and decoherence times, we provide an estimate of the state-to-state internal conversion rates within the manifold of the lowest few electronic excitations. We find that the lowest few excited states of a model interface are rapidly mixed by C=C bond fluctuations such that the system can sample both intermolecular charge-transfer and charge-separated electronic configurations on a time scale of 20fs. Our simulations support an emerging picture of carrier generation in OPV systems in which interfacial electronic states can rapidly decay into charge-separated and current producing states via coupling to vibronic degrees of freedom.