Investigation of single molecule charge transfer

CHED 1418

Jason M. Tyler, jmtyler@email.arizona.edu, Michael L. Blumenfeld, mblumenf@email.arizona.edu, and Oliver L. A. Monti, monti@u.arizona.edu. Department of Chemistry, The University of Arizona, 1306 E. University Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85716
The understanding and efficiency of organic photovoltaic devices are hindered by heterogeneity. In order to understand these devices on a more fundamental level, a confocal scanning optical microscope (CSOM) for investigating the charge generation processes of organic semiconductors occurring at the single molecule level has been built. Well defined systems, namely GaN/Sc2O3/PTCDI and TiO2/self-assembled alkylphosphonic acid monolayer (SAM)/PTCDI, have been selected for these single molecule studies. These systems consist of a wide-bandgap semiconductor under an insulator of variable thickness on which single molecules are deposited. The design, construction, and performance of the CSOM as well as initial data from these experiments will be presented.