Impact of molecular orientation on energy level alignment at C60/pentacene interfaces

The molecular orientation and the electronic structure at molecular donor/acceptor interfaces play an important role in the performance of organic optoelectronic devices. Here, we show that graphene substrates can be used as templates for tuning the molecular orientation of pentacene (PEN), selectively driving the formation of either face-on or edge-on arrangements by controlling the temperature of the substrate during deposition. The electronic structure and morphology of the two resulting C60/PEN heterointerfaces were elucidated using ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy, respectively. While the C60/PEN (edge-on) interface exhibited a vacuum level alignment, the C60/PEN (face-on) interface exhibited a vacuum level shift of 0.2 eV, which was attributed to the formation of an interface dipole that resulted from polarization at the C60/PEN boundary.