Binding Energy of Triplet Excitons in Nonfullerene Acceptors: The Effects of Fluorination and Chlorination.

Abstract

One strategy to improve the photovoltaic properties of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs), employed in state-of-art organic solar cells, is the rational fluorination or chlorination of these molecules. Although this modification improves important acceptor properties, little is known about the effects on the triplet states. Here, we combine the polarizable continuum model with an optimally tuned range-separated hybrid functional to investigate this issue. We find that fluorination or chlorination of NFAs decreases the degree of the highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (HOMO-LUMO) overlap along these molecules. Consequently, the energy gap between T1 and S1 states, ΔEST = ES1 - ET1, also decreases. This effect reduces the binding energy of triplet excitons, which favors their dissociation into free charges. Furthermore, the reduction of ΔEST can contribute to mitigating the losses produced by the nonradiative deactivation of the T1 excitons. Interestingly, although Cl has a lower electronegativity than F, chlorination is more effective to reduce ΔEST. Since the chlorination of NFAs is easier than fluorination, Cl substitution can be a useful approach to enhance solar energy harvesting using triplet excitons.