Revealing intermolecular coupling effects on vibrational spectra with infrared-reflectance absorbance analysis of perylene diimide thin films

Abstract

Intermolecular interactions govern the optical and electronic properties of organic semiconductor thin films. Optimizing the function of molecular devices such as organic solar cells and light emitting diodes relies on understanding structural effects in a heterogeneous film environment. Because organic thin films are typically more disordered than inorganic crystalline semiconductors, advanced techniques are often needed to sufficiently characterize these materials. However, polarized infrared reflectance measurements are a benchtop method that can provide well-resolved vibrational spectra with specificity in their molecular orientation. By using infrared reflectance-absorbance spectroscopy (IRRAS) we relate the effects of intermolecular packing geometry on thin film vibrational spectra of perylene diimide (PDI), a prototypical molecular semiconductor. We analyze a suite of PDIs with differing sidechain substitutions, which adopt distinct crystal packing arrangements in thin films, by comparison of the reflectance spectra to isotropic KBr mixtures. We observe differences in the degree of Davydov splitting as a function of displacement along the short and long molecular axes and the π-π stacking distance that are evident in either the symmetric or anti-symmetric CO stretching frequencies of the solid. The four PDIs also display changes in relative intensity between the two modes that indicate different average molecular orientations.