Effect of oligothiophene spacer length on photogenerated charge transfer from perylene diimide to boron-doped diamond electrodes

Organic-based photovoltaic devices emerged as a complementary technology to silicon solar cells with specific advantages in terms of cost, ease of deployment, semi-transparency, and performance under low and diffuse light conditions. In this work, thin-film boron-doped diamond (B:NCD) electrodes are employed for their useful optical, electronic, and chemical properties, as well as stability and environmental safety. A set of oligothiophene perylene diimide (nT-PDI) donor-acceptor chromophores is designed and synthesized in order to investigate the influence of the oligothiophene spacer length when the nT-PDI molecule is attached to a B:NCD electrode. The chromophores are anchored to the diamond surface via diazonium grafting followed by Sonogashira cross-coupling. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows that the surface coverage decreases with increasing oligothiophene length. Density functional theory (DFT/TDDFT) calculations reveal the upright nT-PDI orientation and the most efficient photogenerated charge separation and injection to diamond for elongated oligothiophene chains (8T-PDI). Yet, the maximum photovoltage is obtained for an intermediate oligothiophene length (3T-PDI), providing an optimum between decreasing transport efficiency and increasing efficiency of charge separation and reduced recombination with increasing oligothiophene length. Holes transferred from nT-PDI to diamond persist there even after the illumination is switched off. Such features may be beneficial for application in solar cells.