In this study the concentration quenching phenomenon is explored for seven organic singlet emitters (Rhodamine 6G, Pyridine 2, Lumogen F Red 305, Perylene, Coumarin 102, DCM and DCJTB) in an inert host of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Combining fluorescence lifetime and quantum yield measurements on samples of different molecular separation allows a deep decay rate analysis to be performed yielding, for each fluorophore, a monomial power law that indicates the strength and type of interaction. The fluorophores studied exhibit interactions in between that of FRET-like dipole–dipole (R⁻⁶) and surface–surface (R⁻²) with many lying close to that expected for surface–dipole (R⁻³) interactions. With no observed dependence on molecular structure it is concluded that the concentration quenching rate in singlet emitters follows a power law as k_CQ = aR^−3.1±0.7 with aggregation expected to increase the magnitude of the observed power.

Nickel oxide thin films have been prepared from a nickel acetylacetonate (Ni(acac)) precursor for use in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices. The conversion of Ni(acac) to NiO_x has been investigated. Oxygen plasma treatment of the NiO layer after annealing at 400 °C affords solar cell efficiencies of 5.2%. Photoelectron spectroscopy shows that high temperature annealing converts the Ni(acac) to a reduced form of nickel oxide. Additional oxygen plasma treatment further oxidizes the surface layers and deepens the NiO work function from 4.7 eV for the annealed film, to 5.0 eV allowing for efficient hole extraction at the organic interface.

Low-temperature solution-processable vanadium oxide (V₂O_x) thin films have been employed as hole extraction layers (HELs) in polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells. V₂O_x films were fabricated in air by spin-coating vanadium(V) oxytriisopropoxide (s-V₂O_x) at room temperature without the need for further thermal annealing. The deposited vanadium(V) oxytriisopropoxide film undergoes hydrolysis in air, converting to V₂O_x with optical and electronic properties comparable to vacuum-deposited V₂O₅. When s-V₂O_x thin films were annealed in air at temperatures of 100 °C and 200 °C, OPV devices showed similar results with good thermal stability and better light transparency. Annealing at 300 °C and 400 °C resulted in a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5% with a decrement approximately 15% lower than that of unannealed films; this is due to the relative decrease in the shunt resistance (R_sh) and an increase in the series resistance (R_s) related to changes in the oxidation state of vanadium.

We report spectroscopic and electrical measurements to explore hole injection and conduction in devices comprising a molybdenum sub-oxide (MoOx) hole injection layers and poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2, 7-diyl)-co-(4,4’(N-(4-sec-butylphenyl))) diphenylamine](TFB) hole transporting polymer. We report improvements in device conductivity over benchmark structures incorporating an ITO electrode and polyethylenedioxythiophene polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) hole injection layers and furthermore achieve injection from MoOx to TFB that is efficient even with an underlying low workfunction Al electrode. XPS spectroscopy has been used to investigate the electronic structure of the interfaces and we find discrete energy alignment regimes consistent with recent surface science studies by Tengstedt et al. [Appl. Phys. Lett. 88, 053502 (2006)], corresponding to Fermi level pinning for MoOx/TFB and vacuum level pinning in the case of Al/TFB. While the energetic alignment regime is measured to be independent of MoOx thickness, the device conductivity continuously varies with MoOx thickness; an observation that can be qualitatively explained by considering two independent charge injection mechanisms from molybdenum oxide sites having different stoicheometry.