@phdthesis{Weber2015,
  author    = {Weber, Christian},
  title     = {Electrochemical Energy Storage: Carbon Xerogel-Manganese Oxide Composites as Supercapacitor Electrode Materials},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-130748},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2015},
  abstract  = {Electrochemical double layer capacitors (EDLC), most commonly referred to as "supercapacitors", have gained increasing scientific and commercial interest in recent years. Purely electrostatic charge storage processes allow charge- and discharge cycles in the second-time scale, exhibiting a theoretical capacitance in the order of 100 F per gram of electrode material, thereby providing efficient recuperation devices for electromechanical processes, for example. Introducing electrochemically active materials such as manganese oxides into the supercapacitor electrode, allows to combine the double-layer storage with a battery-like storage process, leading to capacitance that can be up to two orders of magnitude larger than those in EDLC. In the present work, an electroless deposition approach of manganese oxide on a carbon scaffold is adapted and further investigated. The carbon material is derived from an organic xerogel, which in turn is prepared via a sol-gel process, allowing tailoring of the structural properties of the carbon, making it an ideal model system to study the relation between morphology and electrochemical performance in the carbon-manganese oxide hybrid electrode. In the first part of this thesis, a variation of manganese oxide deposition time at a low concentration of precursor solution is analyzed. Mass uptakes reach up to 58 wt.\%, leading to an increase of volumetric capacitance by a factor 5, however reducing the dynamic performance of the electrode. The structural characterization gives hints on the deposition location of the active material either in the intra-particular pores of the carbon backbone or on the enveloping surface area of the particles forming the backbone. In order to comprehensively answer the question of the location of the active material within the hybrid electrode, the particle size of the carbon backbone and therefore the enveloping surface area of the carbon particles was varied. For samples with high mass uptakes, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show a layer thickness of 27 nm of active material around the carbon particles. In order to quantitatively investigate this layer morphology, even for low mass uptakes where no layer is visible in SEM images, a model interpreting data from anomalous small angle X-ray scattering (ASAXS) measurements was developed. The results confirm the presence of a layer around the carbon particles, exhibiting a layer thickness ranging from 3 to 26 nm. From an electrochemical point of view, carbon backbones with a large enveloping surface area will lead to high mass uptakes in the electroless deposition process and therefore lead to high capacitance of the electrode. However, for future application, electrodeposition approaches should be investigated in detail, since no deposits will form on the interface between carbon backbone and current collector, leading to a better dynamic performance of the hybrid electrode. Furthermore, the ASAXS-method should be promoted and applied on other material systems, since this technique allows to draw important conclusions and allows to deduce integral and quantitative information towards a rational design of high performance electrodes.},
  subject      = {Superkondensator},
  language  = {en}
}
@phdthesis{Gorenflot2014,
  author    = {Gorenflot, Julien Fran{\c{c}}ois},
  title     = {Optical study of the excited states in the semiconducting polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) for photovoltaic applications},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-116730},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2014},
  abstract  = {In the course of this dissertation, we have presented the interest of using spectroscopic methods to unravel the physics of polymer semiconductors in photovoltaic applications. Applying photoluminescence and photoinduced absorption spectroscopy to the reference system P3HT:PCBM has enabled us to study the major steps of photocurrent generation in organic bulk heterojunctions, from excitons generation to charges extraction and loss mechanisms and thus to improve the understanding of those mechanisms. The exciton binding energy, is the first obstacle to overcome for photocurrent generation in organic solar cell and the reason for the use of two materials, whose heterojunction act as a driving force for charge separation. We developed an original photoluminescence-detected field-induced exciton quenching method to investigate this energy. Absorption and photoluminescence spectra of pure P3HT show that, while both amorphous and crystalline domains participate in absorption, the energy is then transferred to the crystalline domains, from where the photoluminescence is exclusively originating. The field dependence of this photoluminescence showed that an energy of no less than 420 meV is necessary to split excitons into non photon-emitting species. Comparing those results with energy levels obtained by absorption and photoelectron spectroscopies, confirmed that the formation of those species is only a first step toward dissociation into free charges. Indeed, photoemission spectroscopy and the onset of photocurrent upon increasing the photon energy in a pure P3HT solar cell, concomitantly show that the energy level of a pair of free polarons is located 0.7 eV above the one of the exciton. The comprehensive analysis of those results originating from those different method enable us to draw a global picture of the states and energies involved in free polarons generation in pure material. This work has been widely acknowledged by the scientific community, published in Physical Review B in 2010 [1] and presented in national [2] and international [3] conferences. The spectroscopy of excited states is used to detect the presence of wanted species (charges) and potentially unwanted neutral species upon photoexcitation. As such, it offers us the possibility to qualify the efficiency of charge generation and, if any, identify the competing processes and the generation of unwanted species. In the frame of the European Marie Curie Research Network SolarNType,[4] this possibility was used - in combination with morphological, charge transport and devices characterizationsn - to study a number of new donor:acceptor blends. Thanks to those techniques, we were able to not only quantify the potential of those blends, but also to provide the chemist laboratories with a precious and detailed feedback on the strengths and weakness of the molecules, regarding charge generation, transport and extraction. The detailed study of terrylene-3,4:11,12-bis(dicarboximide) as electron acceptor for solar cells application was published in the peer review journal Synthetic Metals and was chosen to illustrate the cover page of the issue [5]. Finally, in the last chapter, we have used time resolved photoinduced absorption to improve the understanding of the charge carrier loss mechanisms in P3HT:PCBM active layers. This comprehension is of prime importance because, the fact that this recombination is far weaker than expected from the Langevin theory, enable polarons to travel further without recombining and thus to build thicker and more efficient devices. A comprehensive analysis of steady-state PIA spectra of pure P3HT, indicates that probing at 980 nm at a temperature between 140 and 250 K enables to monitor specifically polaron densities in both neat P3HT and P3HT:PCBM. Applying this finding to transient absorption enabled us to monitor, for the first time, the bimolecular recombination in pure P3HT, and to discover that - in sharp contrast with the blend - this recombination was in agreement with the Langevin theory. Moreover, it enables us to pinpoint the important role played by the existence of two materials and of energetical traps in the slow recombination and high recombination orders observed in the blend. This work has been published in the Journal of Applied Physics.[6] Those new insights in the photophysics of polymer:fullerene photoactive layers could have a strong impact on the future developement of those materials. Consistent measurements of the binding energy of excitons and intermediate species, would enable to clarify the role played by excess thermal energy in interfacial states dissociation. Better understanding of blends morphology and its influence on solar cells parameters and in particular on recombination could enable to reproduce the conditions of limited recombination on material systems offering some promising performances but with only limited active layer thicknesses. However, due to the number of parameters involved, further experimentation is required, before we can reach a quantitative modeling of bimolecular recombination. [1] Deibel et al., Phys. Rev. B, 81:085202, 2010 [2] Gorenflot et al., Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft Fr{\"u}hjahrstagung 2010, CPP20:10, Regensburg, Germany, 2010 [3] Gorenflot et al., International Conference of Synthetic Metals, 7Ax:05, Kyoto, Japan, 2010 [4] Marie-Curie RTN "SolarNTyp" Contract No. MRTN-CT-2006-035533 [5] Gorenflot et al., Synth. Met., 161(23{24):2669-2676, 2012 [6] Gorenflot et al., J. Appl. Phys., 115(14):144502, 2014},
  subject      = {Organische Solarzelle},
  language  = {en}
}