Charge Transfer at Metal Oxide/Organic Interfaces
type: CreativeWork
description: Interfacial charge transfer between metal oxides and organic semiconductors has been found to limit the efficiency of organic optoelectronic devices. Although a number of investigations of inorganic/organic systems exist, very few generally applicable rules for oxide/organic interfaces have been developed and many questions about these systems remain unanswered. Thus the studies presented in this dissertation were designed to improve the understanding of the fundamental interface physics of metal oxide/organic systems. Single molecule fluorescence microscopy was employed to determine the charge transfer mechanism while photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the energy level alignment of model systems. Additional computational studies allowed the examination of the properties of the charged organic molecules involved in charge transfer and modeling of the molecule-surface interaction. Calculations of the ground state properties and excited state transitions of the neutral and singly charged states of a modified perylene molecule were performed to provide insight into the orbitals of the initial and final states involved in the interfacial charge transfer process. The design and implementation of a novel UHV single molecule microscope is described. This microscope was used to observe the excited state charge transfer between a modified perylene molecule and Al₂O₃ (0001). The charge transfer mechanism was identified as involving activated trapping and detrapping of the defect derived states within the Al₂O₃ band gap, which resulted in the observation of strongly distributed kinetics for this system. The influence of defects and adsorbates on the electronic structure of ZnO and its interface with organic semiconductors was determined from photoelectron spectroscopy. Modified perylene molecules were found to have strong chemisorptive interactions with the ZnO surface involving charge transfer from defect derived ZnO states to the LUMO, while magnesium phthalocy…
abstract: Interfacial charge transfer between metal oxides and organic semiconductors has been found to limit the efficiency of organic optoelectronic devices. Although a number of investigations of inorganic/organic systems exist, very few generally applicable rules for oxide/organic interfaces have been developed and many questions about these systems remain unanswered. Thus the studies presented in this dissertation were designed to improve the understanding of the fundamental interface physics of metal oxide/organic systems. Single molecule fluorescence microscopy was employed to determine the charge transfer mechanism while photoelectron spectroscopy was used to determine the energy level alignment of model systems. Additional computational studies allowed the examination of the properties of the charged organic molecules involved in charge transfer and modeling of the molecule-surface interaction. Calculations of the ground state properties and excited state transitions of the neutral and singly charged states of a modified perylene molecule were performed to provide insight into the orbitals of the initial and final states involved in the interfacial charge transfer process. The design and implementation of a novel UHV single molecule microscope is described. This microscope was used to observe the excited state charge transfer between a modified perylene molecule and Al₂O₃ (0001). The charge transfer mechanism was identified as involving activated trapping and detrapping of the defect derived states within the Al₂O₃ band gap, which resulted in the observation of strongly distributed kinetics for this system. The influence of defects and adsorbates on the electronic structure of ZnO and its interface with organic semiconductors was determined from photoelectron spectroscopy. Modified perylene molecules were found to have strong chemisorptive interactions with the ZnO surface involving charge transfer from defect derived ZnO states to the LUMO, while magnesium phthalocy…
author: Schirra, Laura Kristy
language: en
keywords: photoelectron spectroscopy, sapphire, single molecule, ZnO, Chemistry, charge transfer, perylene diimide
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T00:57:22Z
provider: University of Arizona
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: The University of Arizona.

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/10150/217090