Acta Phys. -Chim. Sin. ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (8): 1880-1893.doi: 10.3866/PKU.WHXB201606061

• REVIEW • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Recent Progress in Singlet Exciton Fission

Yan-Ping LIU1,2,Yi-Shi WU1,*(),Hong-Bing FU1,3,*()   

  1. 1 State Key Laboratory for Structural Chemistry of Unstable and Stable Species, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
    2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, P. R. China
    3 Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, P. R. China
  • Received:2016-05-05 Published:2016-07-29
  • Contact: Yi-Shi WU,Hong-Bing FU E-mail:yswu@iccas.ac.cn;hongbing.fu@iccas.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21573251);The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21521062);The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21190034);The project was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(21221002);National Key Basic Research Program of China (973)(2011CB808402);National Key Basic Research Program of China (973)(2013CB933500)

Abstract:

Singlet exciton fission is the process by which a high-energy singlet exciton splits into two low-energy triplet excitons. Organic solar cells based on singlet fission have the potential to exceed the Shockley-Queisser limit and, in doing so, may improve their efficiency from 30% to 44.4%. Although progress in singlet fission materials and photovoltaic devices has accelerated with recent research, many challenges and debates remain with regard to clarifying the relationship between molecule structures and the rate and efficiency of singlet fission. This review addresses recent advances in singlet fission materials and summarizes the work of our own research group. We begin by introducing the background of singlet fission, following with the general concept, the requirements for singlet fission to proceed, and the applications of transient absorption spectroscopy. Two mechanisms have been proposed to explain singlet fission molecules, intermolecular and intramolecular singlet fission, and these two types of materials are summarized, focusing on dimers, which are novel structures that undergo efficient intramolecular singlet fission. Based on the latest developments in singlet fission, we discuss the possible future advances in, and prospects for the application of, singlet fission materials.

Key words: Organic solar cell, Photon conversion, Photophysics, Intermolecule and intramolecule