Direct Spectroscopic Evidence of Ultrafast Electron Transfer from a Low Band Gap Polymer to CdSe Quantum Dots in Hybrid Photovoltaic Thin Films

Ultrafast transient absorption spectroscopy is used to study charge transfer dynamics in hybrid films composed of the low band gap polymer PCPDTBT and CdSe quantum dots capped with tert-butylthiol ligands. By selectively exciting the polymer, a spectral signature for electrons on the quantum dots appears on ultrafast time scales (≲ 65 fs), which indicates ultrafast electron transfer. From this time scale, the coupling between the polymer chains and the quantum dots is estimated to be J ≳ 17 meV. The reduced quantum dot acceptors exhibit an unambiguous spectral bleach signature, whose amplitude allows for the first direct calculation of the absolute electron transfer yield in a hybrid solar cell (82 ± 5%). We also show that a limitation of the hybrid system is rapid and measurable geminate recombination due to the small separation of the initial charge pair. The fast recombination is consistent with the internal quantum efficiency of the corresponding solar cell. We therefore have identified and quantified a main loss mechanism in this type of third generation solar cell.