Charge separation and recombination in novel polymeric absorber materials for organic solar cells : a photophysical study

In dieser Dissertation wird die Ladungsträgergeneration und -rekombination in neuen polymeren Absorbermaterialien für organische Solarzellen untersucht. Das Verständnis dieser Prozesse ist wesentlich für die Entwicklung neuer photoaktiver Materialsysteme, die hohe Effizienzen erzielen und organische Solarzellen konkurrenzfähig im Bereich der erneuerbaren Energien machen. Experimentell verwendet diese Arbeit hauptsächlich die Methode der transienten Absorptionsspektroskopie, die sich für die Untersuchung photophysikalischer Prozesse auf einer Zeitskala von 100 fs bis 1 ms als sehr leistungsfähig erweist. Des Weiteren wird eine soft-modeling Methode vorgestellt, die es ermöglicht, photophysikalische Prozesse aus einer gemessenen transienten Absorptions-Datenmatrix zu bestimmen, wenn wenig a priori Kenntnisse der Reaktionskinetiken vorhanden sind. Drei unterschiedliche Donor:Akzeptor-Systeme werden untersucht; jedes dieser Systeme stellt eine andere Herangehensweise zur Optimierung der Materialien dar in Bezug auf Lichtabsorption über einen breiten Wellenlängenbereich, effiziente Ladungstrennung und schnellen Ladungstransport. Zuerst wird ein Terpolymer untersucht, das aus unterschiedlichen Einheiten für die Lichtabsorption und den Ladungstransport besteht. Es wird gezeigt, dass es möglich ist, den Fluss angeregter Zustände vom Chromophor auf die Transporteinheit zu leiten. Im zweiten Teil wird der Einfluss von Kristallinität auf die freie Ladungsträgergeneration mit einer Folge von ternären Mischungen, die unterschiedliche Anteile an amorphem und semi-kristallinem Polymer enthalten, untersucht. Dabei zeigt es sich, dass mit steigendem amorphen Polymeranteil sowohl der Anteil der geminalen Ladungsträgerrekombination erhöht als auch die nicht-geminale Rekombination schneller ist. Schlussendlich wird ein System untersucht, in dem sowohl Donor als auch Akzeptor Polymere sind, was zu verbesserten Absorptionseigenschaften führt. Die Rekombination von Ladungstransferzuständen auf der unter 100 ps Zeitskala stellt hier den hauptsächliche Verlustkanal dar, da freie Ladungsträger nur an Grenzflächen erzeugt werden können, an denen Donor und Akzeptor face-to-face zueinander orientiert sind. Darüber hinaus wird festgestellt, dass weitere 40-50% der Ladungsträger durch die Rekombination von Grenzflächenzuständen verloren gehen, die aus mobilen Ladungsträgern geminal gebildet werden.

Size-selective investigations of spectral and emission properties of small particles and nanotubes

In dieser Arbeit wurde die Elektronenemission von Nanopartikeln auf Oberflächen mittels spektroskopischen Photoelektronenmikroskopie untersucht. Speziell wurden metallische Nanocluster untersucht, als selbstorganisierte Ensembles auf Silizium oder Glassubstraten, sowie ferner ein Metall-Chalcogenid (MoS2) Nanoröhren-Prototyp auf Silizium. Der Hauptteil der Untersuchungen war auf die Wechselwirkung von fs-Laserstrahlung mit den Nanopartikeln konzentriert. Die Energie der Lichtquanten war kleiner als die Austrittsarbeit der untersuchten Proben, so dass Ein-Photonen-Photoemission ausgeschlossen werden konnte. Unsere Untersuchungen zeigten, dass ausgehend von einem kontinuierlichen Metallfilm bis hin zu Clusterfilmen ein anderer Emissionsmechanismus konkurrierend zur Multiphotonen-Photoemission auftritt und für kleine Cluster zu dominieren beginnt. Die Natur dieses neuen Mechanismus` wurde durch verschiedenartige Experimente untersucht. Der Übergang von einem kontinuierlichen zu einem Nanopartikelfilm ist begleitet von einer Zunahme des Emissionsstroms von mehr als eine Größenordnung. Die Photoemissions-Intensität wächst mit abnehmender zeitlicher Breite des Laserpulses, aber diese Abhängigkeit wird weniger steil mit sinkender Partikelgröße. Die experimentellen Resultate wurden durch verschiedene Elektronenemissions-Mechanismen erklärt, z.B. Multiphotonen-Photoemission (nPPE), thermionische Emission und thermisch unterstützte nPPE sowie optische Feldemission. Der erste Mechanismus überwiegt für kontinuierliche Filme und Partikel mit Größen oberhalb von mehreren zehn Nanometern, der zweite und dritte für Filme von Nanopartikeln von einer Größe von wenigen Nanometern. Die mikrospektroskopischen Messungen bestätigten den 2PPE-Emissionsmechanismus von dünnen Silberfilmen bei „blauer“ Laseranregung (hν=375-425nm). Das Einsetzen des Ferminiveaus ist relativ scharf und verschiebt sich um 2hν, wenn die Quantenenergie erhöht wird, wogegen es bei „roter“ Laseranregung (hν=750-850nm) deutlich verbreitert ist. Es zeigte sich, dass mit zunehmender Laserleistung die Ausbeute von niederenergetischen Elektronen schwächer zunimmt als die Ausbeute von höherenergetischen Elektronen nahe der Fermikante in einem Spektrum. Das ist ein klarer Hinweis auf eine Koexistenz verschiedener Emissionsmechanismen in einem Spektrum. Um die Größenabhängigkeit des Emissionsverhaltens theoretisch zu verstehen, wurde ein statistischer Zugang zur Lichtabsorption kleiner Metallpartikel abgeleitet und diskutiert. Die Elektronenemissionseigenschaften bei Laseranregung wurden in zusätzlichen Untersuchungen mit einer anderen Anregungsart verglichen, der Passage eines Tunnelstroms durch einen Metall-Clusterfilm nahe der Perkolationsschwelle. Die elektrischen und Emissionseigenschaften von stromtragenden Silberclusterfilmen, welche in einer schmalen Lücke (5-25 µm Breite) zwischen Silberkontakten auf einem Isolator hergestellt wurden, wurden zum ersten Mal mit einem Emissions-Elektronenmikroskop (EEM) untersucht. Die Elektronenemission beginnt im nicht-Ohmschen Bereich der Leitungsstrom-Spannungskurve des Clusterfilms. Wir untersuchten das Verhalten eines einzigen Emissionszentrums im EEM. Es zeigte sich, dass die Emissionszentren in einem stromleitenden Silberclusterfilm Punktquellen für Elektronen sind, welche hohe Emissions-Stromdichten (mehr als 100 A/cm2) tragen können. Die Breite der Energieverteilung der Elektronen von einem einzelnen Emissionszentrum wurde auf etwa 0.5-0.6 eV abgeschätzt. Als Emissionsmechanismus wird die thermionische Emission von dem „steady-state“ heißen Elektronengas in stromdurchflossenen metallischen Partikeln vorgeschlagen. Größenselektierte, einzelne auf Si-Substraten deponierte MoS2-Nanoröhren wurden mit einer Flugzeit-basierten Zweiphotonen-Photoemissions-Spektromikroskopie untersucht. Die Nanoröhren-Spektren wiesen bei fs-Laser Anregung eine erstaunlich hohe Emissionsintensität auf, deutlich höher als die SiOx Substratoberfläche. Dagegen waren die Röhren unsichtbar bei VUV-Anregung bei hν=21.2 eV. Eine ab-initio-Rechnung für einen MoS2-Slab erklärt die hohe Intensität durch eine hohe Dichte freier intermediärer Zustände beim Zweiphotonen-Übergang bei hν=3.1 eV.

Effect of drug physicochemical properties on the release from liposomal systems in vitro and in vivo

Liposomes were discovered about 40 years ago by A. Bangham and since then they became very versatile tools in biology, biochemistry and medicine. Liposomes are the smallest artificial vesicles of spherical shape that can be produced from natural untoxic phospholipids and cholesterol. Liposome vesicles can be used as drug carriers and become loaded with a great variety of molecules, such as small drug molecules, proteins, nucleotides and even plasmids. Due to the variability of liposomal compositions they can be used for a large number of applications. In this thesis the β-adrenoceptor antagonists propranolol, metoprolol, atenolol and pindolol, glucose, 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and Er-DTPA were used for encapsulation in liposomes, characterization and in vitro release studies. Multilamellar vesicles (MLV), large unilamellar vesicles (LUV) and smaller unilamellar vesicles (SUV) were prepared using one of the following lipids: 1,2-Dimyristoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DMPC), 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DSPC), Phospholipone 90H (Ph90H) or a mixture of DSPC and DMPC (1:1). The freeze thawing method was used for preparation of liposomes because it has three advantages (1) avoiding the use of chloroform, which is used in other methods and causes toxicity (2) it is a simple method and (3) it gives high entrapping efficiency. The percentage of entrapping efficiencies (EE) was different depending on the type and phase transition temperature (Tc) of the lipid used. The average particle size and particle size distribution of the prepared liposomes were determined using both dynamic light scattering (DLS) and laser diffraction analyzer (LDA). The average particle size of the prepared liposomes differs according to both liposomal type and lipid type. Dispersion and dialysis techniques were used for the study of the in vitro release of β-adrenoceptor antagonists. The in vitro release rate of β-adrenoceptor antagonists was increased from MLV to LUV to SUV. Regarding the lipid type, β-adrenoceptor antagonists exhibited different in vitro release pattern from one lipid to another. Two different concentrations (50 and 100mg/ml) of Ph90H were used for studying the effect of lipid concentration on the in vitro release of β-adrenoceptor antagonists. It was found that liposomes made from 50 mg/ml Ph90H exhibited higher release rates than liposomes made at 100 mg/ml Ph90H. Also glucose was encapsulated in MLV, LUV and SUV using 1,2-Dimyristoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DMPC), 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DSPC), Phospholipone 90H (Ph90H), soybean lipid (Syb) or a mixture of DSPC and DMPC (1:1). The average particle size and size distribution were determined using laser diffraction analysis. It was found that both EE and average particle size differ depending on both lipid and liposomal types. The in vitro release of glucose from different types of liposomes was performed using a dispersion method. It was found that the in vitro release of glucose from different liposomes is dependent on the lipid type. 18F-FDG was encapsulated in MLV 1,2-Dimyristoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DMPC), 1,2-Distearoyl-sn-Glycero-3-Phosphocholine (DSPC), Phospholipone 90H (Ph90H), soybean lipid (Syb) or a mixture of DSPC and DMPC (1:1). FDG-containing LUV and SUV were prepared using Ph90H lipid. The in vitro release of FDG from the different types of lipids was accomplished using a dispersion method. Results similar to that of glucose release were obtained. In vivo imaging of FDG in both uncapsulated FDG and FDG-containing MLV was performed in the brain and the whole body of rats using PET scanner. It was found that the release of FDG from FDG-containing MLV was sustained. In vitro-In vivo correlation was studied using the in vitro release data of FDG from liposomes and in vivo absorption data of FDG from injected liposomes using microPET. Erbium, which is a lanthanide metal, was used as a chelate with DTPA for encapsulation in SUV liposomes for the indirect radiation therapy of cancer. The liposomes were prepared using three different concentrations of soybean lipid (30, 50 and 70 mg/ml). The stability of Er-DTPA SUV liposomes was carried out by storage of the prepared liposomes at three different temperatures (4, 25 and 37 °C). It was found that the release of Er-DTPA complex is temperature dependent, the higher the temperature, the higher the release. There was an inverse relationship between the release of the Er-DTPA complex and the concentration of lipid.

Electronic structure and physical properties of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric and spintronic applications

This thesis focuses on synthesis as well as investigations of the electronic structure and properties of Heusler compounds for spintronic and thermoelectric applications.rnThe first part reports on the electronic and crystal structure as well as the mechanical, magnetic, and transport properties of the polycrystalline Heusler compound Co2MnGe. The crystalline structure was examined in detail by extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy and anomalous X-ray diffraction. The low-temperature magnetic moment agrees well with the Slater-Pauling rule and indicates a half-metallic ferromagnetic state of the compound, as is predicted by ab-initio calculations. Transport measurements and hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (HAXPES) were performed to explain the electronic structure of the compound.rnA major part of the thesis deals with a systematical investigation of Heusler compounds for thermoelectric applications. Few studies have been reported on thermoelectric properties of p-type Heusler compounds. Therefore, this thesis focuses on the search for new p-type Heusler compounds with high thermoelectric efficiency. The substitutional series NiTi1−xMxSn and CoTi1−xMxSb (where M = Sc, V and 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.2) were synthesized and investigated theoretically and experimentally with respect to electronic structure and transport properties. The results show the possibility to create n-type and p-type thermoelectrics within one Heusler compound. The pure compounds showed n-type behavior, while under Sc substitution the system switched to p-type behavior. A maximum Seebeck coefficient of +230 μV/K (at 350 K) was obtained for NiTi0.26Sc0.04Zr0.35Hf0.35Sn, which is one of the highest values for p-type thermoelectric compounds based on Heusler alloys up to now. HAXPES valence band measurement show massive in gap states for the parent compounds NiTiSn, CoTiSb and NiTi0.3Zr0.35Hf0.35Sn. This proves that the electronic states close to the Fermi energy play a key role for the behavior of the transport properties. Furthermore, the electronic structure of the gapless Heusler compounds PtYSb, PtLaBi and PtLuSb were investigated by bulk sensitive HAXPES. The linear behavior of the spectra close to εF proves the bulk origin of Dirac-cone type density of states. Furthermore, a systematic study on the optical and transport properties of PtYSb is presented. The compound exhibits promising thermoelectric properties with a high figure of merit (ZT = 0.2) and a Hall mobility μh of 300 cm2/Vs at 350 K.rnThe last part of this thesis describes the linear dichroism in angular-resolved photoemission from the valence band of NiTi0.9Sc0.1Sn and NiMnSb. High resolution photoelectron spectroscopy was performed with an excitation energy of hν = 7.938 keV. The linear polarization of the photons was changed using an in-vacuum diamond phase retarder. Noticeable linear dichroism is found in the valence bands and this allows for a symmetry analysis of the contributing states. The differences in the spectra are found to be caused by symmetry dependent angular asymmetry parameters, and these occur even in polycrystalline samples without preferential crystallographic orientation.rnIn summary, Heusler compounds with 1:1:1 and 2:1:1 stoichiometry were synthesized and examined by chemical and physical methods. Overall, this thesis shows that the combination of first-principle calculations, transport measurements and high resolution high energy photoelectron spectroscopy analysis is a very powerful tool for the design and development of new materials for a wide range of applications from spintronic applications to thermoelectric applications.rn

Laboratory study on the optical properties of absorbing atmospheric aerosols and field applications

The interaction between aerosols and sun light plays an important role in the radiative balance of Earth’s atmosphere. This interaction is obtained by measuring the removal (extinction), redistribution (scattering), and transformation into heat (absorption) of light by the aerosols; i.e. their optical properties. Knowledge of these properties is crucial for our understanding of the atmospheric system. rn Light absorption by aerosols is a major contributor to the direct and indirect effects on our climate system, and an accurate and sensitive measurement method is crucial to further our understanding. A homebuilt photoacoustic sensor (PAS), measuring at a 532nm wavelength, was fully characterized and its functionality validated for measurements of absorbing aerosols. The optical absorption cross-sections of absorbing polystyrene latex spheres, to be used as a standard for aerosol absorption measurements, were measured and compared to literature values. Additionally, a calibration method using absorbing aerosol of known complex refractive index was presented.rn A new approach to retrieve the effective broadband refractive indices (mbroad,eff) of aerosol particles by a white light aerosol spectrometer (WELAS) optical particle counter (OPC) was achieved. Using a tandem differential mobility analyzer (DMA)-OPC system, the nbroad,eff are obtained for both laboratory and field applications. This method was tested in the laboratory using substances with a wide range of optical properties and it was used in ambient measurements to retrieve the nbroad,eff of biomass burning aerosols in a nationwide burning event in Israel. The retrieved effective broadband refractive indices for laboratory generated scattering aerosols were: ammonium sulfate (AS), glutaric acid (GA), and sodium chloride, all within 4% of literature values. For absorbing substances, nigrosine and various mixtures of nigrosine with AS and GA were measured, as well as a lightly absorbing substance, Suwannee river fulvic acid (SRFA). For the ambient measurements, the calibration curves generated from this method were to follow the optical evolution of biomass burning (BB) aerosols. A decrease in the overall aerosol absorption and scattering for aged aerosols during the day after the fires compared to the smoldering phase of the fires was found. rn The connection between light extinction of aerosols, their chemical composition and hygroscopicity for particles with different degrees of absorption was studied. The extinction cross-section (σext) at 532nm for different mobility diameters was measured at 80% and 90% relative humidity (RH), and at an RH<10%. The ratio of the humidified aerosols to the dry ones, fRHext(%RH,Dry), is presented. For purely scattering aerosols, fRHext(%RH,Dry) is inversely proportional with size; this dependence was suppressed for lightly absorbing ones. In addition, the validity of the mixing rules for water soluble absorbing aerosols is explored. The difference between the derived and calculated real parts of the complex RIs were less than 5.3% for all substances, wavelengths, and RHs. The obtained imaginary parts for the retrieved and calculated RIs were in good agreement with each other, and well within the measurement errors of retrieval from pulsed CRD spectroscopy measurements. Finally, a core-shell structure model is also used to explore the differences between the models, for substances with low growth factors, under these hydration conditions. It was found that at 80% RH and for size parameters less than 2.5, there is less than a 5 % difference between the extinction efficiencies calculated with both models. This difference is within measurement errors; hence, there is no significant difference between the models in this case. However, for greater size parameters the difference can be up to 10%. For 90% RH the differences below a size parameter of 2.5 were up to 7%.rn Finally, the fully characterized PAS together with a cavity ring down spectrometer (CRD), were used to study the optical properties of soot and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) during the SOOT-11 project in the AIDA chamber in Karlsruhe, Germany. The fresh fractal-like soot particles were allowed to coagulate for 28 hours before stepwise coating them with SOA. The single scattering albedo for fresh fractal-like soot was measured to be 0.2 (±0.03), and after allowing the soot to coagulate for 28 hours and coating it with SOA, it increased to 0.71(±0.01). An absorption enhancement of the coated soot of up to 1.71 (±0.03) times from the non-coated coagulated soot was directly measured with the PAS. Monodisperse measurements of SOA and soot coated with SOA were performed to derive the complex refractive index (m) of both aerosols. A complex refractive index of m = 1.471(±0.008) + i0.0(±0.002) for the SOA-αO3 was retrieved. For the compact coagulated soot a preliminary complex refractive index of m = 2.04(+0.21/-0.14) + i0.34(+0.18/-0.06) with 10nm(+4/-6) coating thickness was retrieved.rn These detail properties can be use by modelers to decrease uncertainties in assessing climatic impacts of the different species and to improve weather forecasting.rn

Investigations into the effect of nucleoside modifications on the physicochemical properties and biological function of DNA and RNA

This thesis explores the effect of chemical nucleoside modification on the physicochemical and biological properties of nucleic acids. Positional alteration on the Watson-Crick edge of purines and pyrimidines, the “C-H” edge of pyrimidines, as well as both the Hoogsteen and sugar edges of purines were attempted by means of copper catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition. For this purpose, nucleic acid building blocks carrying terminal alkynes were synthesized and introduced into oligonucleotides by solid-phase oligonucleotide chemistry. rnOf particular interest was the effect of nucleoside modification on hydrogen bond formation with complementary nucleosides. The attachment of propargyl functionalities onto the N2 of guanosine and the N4 of 5-methylcytosine, respectively, followed by incorporation of the modified analogs into oligonucleotides, was successfully achieved. Temperature dependent UV-absorption melting measurements with duplexes formed between modified oligonucleotides and a variety of complementary strands resulted in melting temperatures for the respective duplexes. As a result, the effect that both the nature and the site of nucleoside modification have on base pairing properties could thus be assisted. rnTo further explore the enzymatic recognition of chemically modified nucleosides, the oligonucleotide containing the N2-modified guanosine derivative on the 5’-end, which was clicked to a fluorescent dye, was subjected to knockdown analyses of the eGFP reporter gene in the presence of increasing concentrations of siRNA duplexes. From these dose-dependent experiments, a clear effect of 5’-labeling on the knockdown efficiency could be seen. In contrast, 3’-labeling was found to be relatively insignificant.rn

Organic lasing: correlation between molecular structure, optical and optoelectronic properties

In this thesis mainly two alternating indenofluorene-phenanthrene copolymers were investigated with a variety of spectroscopic and optoelectronic experiments. The different experimental techniques allowed to retrieve deeper insights into their unique optical as well as optoelectronic properties. The motivation of the research presented in this work was to correlate their photophysical properties with respect to their application in electrically pumped lasing. This thesis begins with the description of optical properties studied by classical absorption and emission spectroscopy and successively describes an overall picture regarding their excited state dynamics occurring after photoexcitation studied by time-resolved spectroscopy. The different spectroscopic methods do not only allow to elucidate the different optical transitions occurring in this class of materials, but also contribute to a better understanding of exciton dynamics and exciton interaction with respect to the molecular structure as well as aggregation and photooxidation of the polymers. Furthermore, the stimulated emission properties were analyzed by amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) experiments. Especially one of the investigated materials, called BLUE-1, showed outstanding optical properties including a high optical gain, a low threshold for ASE and low optical losses. Apart from the optical experiments, the charge carrier mobility was measured with the time-of-flight technique and a comparably high hole mobility on the order of 1 x 10-² cm²/(Vs) was determined for BLUE-1 which makes this material promising for organic lasing. The impact of the high charge carrier mobility in this material class was further analyzed in different optoelectronic devices such as organic LEDs (OLEDs) and organic solar cells.