Collecting photo-generated charge carriers from metallo-organic materials

Organic photovoltaic materials continue to garner attention as potential low cost and tunable alternatives to conventional inorganics. We report progress in utilizing hybrid metallo-organic materials that incorporate metal-metal (M-M) quadruply bonded units into oligothiophenes via carboxylate linkers.\footnote{ G. T. Burdzinski, \textit{et al.}, PNAS \textbf{105,} 15247 (2008).} Varying the metal (M = Mo, W) or the ligands shifts the energetics and can be exploited to extend absorption into the infrared. These materials have high absorbtivity from 300 nm (4.1 eV) to 900 nm (1.4 eV). We present the results of photophysical studies of structures that employ these materials.