Recombination pathways in polymer:fullerene photovoltaics observed through spin polarization measurements

We report magnetoconductance measurements on polymer:fullerene photovoltaic devices in the regime of high fields and low temperatures, where spin polarization of injected carriers plays an important role. The current either decreases or increases with magnetic field, depending on whether the interfacial charge-transfer state lies above or below the intramolecular triplet state in energy. Rapid transitions from triplet charge-transfer states to lower-lying triplet excitons constitute an important loss mechanism that is responsible for the negative magnetoconductance observed