Probing molecular orientation at bulk heterojunctions by polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy

A bulk heterojunction in organic solar cells is where charge separation and recombination occur.Molecular orientation at the interface is one of the key factors that dictate solar cell efficiency.Although X-ray scattering-based methods can determine donor/acceptor domain orientations between an anisotropic phase and an isotropic fullerene-based phase,the rise of nonfullerene solar cells presents a new challenge in delineating local molecular directions at the interface between two anisotropic donor/acceptor domains.Here,we determine interfacial molecular orientations of three high-efficiency small molecule solar cells(ZR1:Y6,B1:BO-4 Cl,and BTR:BO-4 Cl)using polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy.The polarization anisotropy of charge separation dynamics indicates an angle of~90°between ZR1 and Y6 molecules at the interface,an angle close to 0°between B1 and BO-4 Cl,and random orientations between BTR and BO-4 Cl.These observations provide complementary information to X-ray scattering measurements and highlight polarization-selective transient absorption spectroscopy as a tool to probe interfacial structure and dynamics of key photophysical steps in energy conversion.