Department of Physics

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Browsing Department of Physics by Department "Chemical Engineering"

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    Creation of a gradient polymer-fullerene interface in photovoltaic devices by thermally controlled interdiffusion
    Drees, M.; Premaratne, K.; Graupner, W.; Heflin, James R.; Davis, Ruth M.; Marciu, D.; Miller, M. (AIP Publishing, 2002-12-01)
    Efficient polymer-fullerene photovoltaic devices require close proximity of the two materials to ensure photoexcited electron transfer from the semiconducting polymer to the fullerene acceptor. We describe studies in which a bilayer system consisting of spin-cast 2-methoxy-5-(2(')-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene copolymer (MEH-PPV) and sublimed C-60 is heated above the MEH-PPV glass transition temperature in an inert environment, inducing an interdiffusion of the polymer and the fullerene layers. With this process, a controlled, bulk, gradient heterojunction is created bringing the fullerene molecules within the exciton diffusion radius of the MEH-PPV throughout the film to achieve highly efficient charge separation. The interdiffused devices show a dramatic decrease in photoluminescence and concomitant increase in short circuit currents, demonstrating the improved interface. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.
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    Effects of receptor clustering on ligand dissociation kinetics: Theory and simulations
    Gopalakrishnan, Mahima; Forsten-Williams, Kimberly; Nugent, Matthew A.; Täuber, Uwe C. (Cell Press, 2005-12-01)
    Receptor-ligand binding is a critical first step in signal transduction and the duration of the interaction can impact signal generation. In mammalian cells, clustering of receptors may be facilitated by heterogeneous zones of lipids, known as lipid rafts. In vitro experiments show that disruption of rafts significantly alters the dissociation of fibrbroblast growth factor-2 (FGF2) from heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs), co-receptors for FGF-2. In this article, we develop a continuum stochastic formalism to address how receptor clustering might influence ligand rebinding. We find that clusters reduce the effective dissociation rate dramatically when the clusters are dense and the overall surface density of receptors is low. The effect is much less pronounced in the case of high receptor density and shows nonmonotonic behavior with time. These predictions are verified via lattice Monte Carlo simulations. Comparison with FGF-2-HSPG experimental results is made and suggests that the theory could be used to analyze similar biological systems. We further present an analysis of an additional cooperative internal-diffusion model that might be used by other systems to increase ligand retention when simple rebinding is insufficient.
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    Thickness dependence, in situ measurements, and morphology of thermally controlled interdiffusion in polymer-C-60 photovoltaic devices
    Drees, M.; Davis, Ruth M.; Heflin, James R. (American Physical Society, 2004-04-28)
    A series of detailed studies is presented in which heat-induced interdiffusion is used to create a gradient bulk-heterojunction of 2-methoxy-5-(2(')-ethylhexyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene (MEH-PPV) copolymer and C-60. Starting from a bilayer of spin-cast MEH-PPV and sublimed C-60, films are heated in the vicinity of the glass transition temperature of the polymer to induce an interdiffusion of polymer and fullerene. Variation of the polymer layer thickness shows that the photocurrents increase with decreasing layer thickness within the examined thickness regime as transport of the separated charges out of the film is improved. The interdiffusion was observed in situ by monitoring the photocurrents during the heating process and exhibited a rapid rise during the first five minutes. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscopy studies show that C-60 forms clusters of up to 30 nm in diameter in the polymer bulk of the interdiffused devices. This clustering of the fullerene molecules puts a significant constraint on the interdiffusion process that can be alleviated by use of donor-acceptor combinations with better miscibility.