Here we report the application of a conjugated copolymer based on thiophene and quinoxaline units, namely poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-altthiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1), to nanoparticle organic photovoltaics (NP-OPVs). TQ1 exhibits more desirable material properties for NP-OPV fabrication and operation, particularly a high glass transition temperature (T g) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC 71 BM (phenyl C 71 butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the T g (sub-T g and post-T g), both in the active layer drying stages and post-cathode deposition annealing stages of device fabrication, and an in-depth study of the effect of these treatments on nanoparticle film morphology. In addition, we report a type of morphological evolution in nanoparticle films for OPV active layers that has not previously been observed, that of PC 71 BM nano-pathway formation between dispersed PC 71 BM-rich nanoparticle cores, which have the benefit of making the bulk film more conducive to charge percolation and extraction.

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Direct metallization of lightly doped n-type crystalline silicon (c-Si) is known to routinely produce non-Ohmic (rectifying) contact behaviour. This has inhibited the development of n-type c-Si solar cells with partial rear contacts, an increasingly popular cell design for high performance p-type c-Si solar cells. In this contribution we demonstrate that low resistance Ohmic contact to n-type c-Si wafers can be achieved by incorporating a thin layer of the low work function metal calcium (ϕ~2.9 eV) between the silicon surface and an overlying aluminium capping layer. Using this approach, contact resistivities of ρ c~2 mΩcm 2 can be realised on undiffused n-type silicon, thus enabling partial rear contacts cell designs on n-type silicon without the need for a phosphorus diffusion. Integrating the Ca/Al stack into a partial rear contact solar cell architecture fabricated on a lightly doped (N D = 4.5 × 10 14 cm À3 ) n-type wafer resulted in a device efficiency of η = 17.6% where the Ca/Al contact comprised only~1.26% of the rear surface. We demonstrate an improvement in this cell structure to an efficiency of η = 20.3% by simply increasing the wafer doping by an order of magnitude to N D = 5.4 × 10 15 cm À3 . Copyright

Microscopy and spectroscopy correlate efficiency enhancement of TQ1:PC70BM solar cells with changes in morphology through optimized solution formulation.

Varying the donor-acceptor ratio is a common technique in optimising organic photovoltaic (OPV) device performance. Here we fabricate poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT): phenyl C 61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) nanoparticle OPVs with varied donor-acceptor ratios from 1:0.5 to 1:2. Device performance increases with PCBM loading from 1:0.5 to 1:1, then surprisingly from 1:1 to 1:2 the performance plateaus, unlike reported trends in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OPVs where device performance drops significantly as the donor:acceptor ratio increases beyond 1:1. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) measurements reveal core-shell nanoparticles for all donor:acceptor ratios with a systematic increase in the PCBM nanoparticle core volume observed as the PCBM loading is increased. This increases the functional PCBM domain size available for exciton harvesting, contrary to the result observed in BHJ OPV devices where increasing the PCBM loading does not lead to an increase in functional PCBM domains. In addition, STXM measurements reveal that the core-shell nanoparticles have core and shell compositions that change with PCBM loading. In particular, we observe that the PCBM component in the nanoparticle shell phase increases from a concentration that is below the percolation limit to one that is close to the optimal weight fraction for charge transport. This increase in the functional PCBM volume is reflected in an increase in PCBM photocurrent calculated from external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements.

We present a simplified design for a scanning helium microscope (SHeM) which utilises almost entirely off the shelf components. The SHeM produces images by detecting scattered neutral helium atoms from a surface, forming an entirely surface sensitive and non-destructive imaging technique. This particular prototype instrument avoids the complexities of existing neutral atom optics by replacing them with an aperture in the form of an ion beam milled pinhole, resulting in a resolution of around 5 microns. Using the images so far produced, an initial investigation of topological contrast has been performed.

Building intermixed donor–acceptor nanoparticle morphologies by utilising rapid miniemulsion dispersed phase solvent removal to disrupt self-assembly.