Manipulating Crystallization Kinetics of Conjugated Polymers in Nonfullerene Photovoltaic Blends toward Refined Morphologies and Higher Performances

Zhan, Junzhe; Wang, Lei; Zhang, Ming; Zhu, Lei; Hao, Tianyu; Zhou, Guanqing; Zhou, Zichun; Chen, Jiajun; Zhong, Wenkai; Qiu, Chaoqun; Leng, Shifeng; Zou, Yecheng; Shi, Zhiwen; Zhu, Haiming; Feng, Wei; Zhang, Maojie; Li, Yongfang; Zhang, Yongming; Liu, Feng

doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.0c02872

Cited by 18 publications

(27 citation statements)

References 68 publications

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“…The NFA crystallites buried in its domain can serve as an electron-transporting highway and help to improve the device performances (mobility data in Figure S67 and Table S15 of the Supporting Information). [21,22] The Guinier-Porod method and the correlation-length method fitting of RSoXS profiles [23] are conducted to yield the Porod constant (Table S5, Supporting Information). The value of the Porod constant elevates under DIO processing.…”

Section: Thin-film Morphology Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Molecular Ordering and Double‐Channel Carrier Generation of Nonfullerene Photovoltaics within Multi‐Length‐Scale Morphology

Chen

et al. 2022

Advanced Materials

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and low energy loss that deliver high opencircuit voltage (V OC ) and short-circuit current (J SC ) in solar cell devices. [1,2] An ideal BHJ thin film requires a bicontinuous network morphology of tens of nanometers of domain size to ensure efficient exciton splitting and charge transport, [3] leading to an improved fill factor (FF). The crystallization of NFA molecule and conjugated polymer in mixture plays an important role in determining the thin-film morphology, [4,5] where the π-π stacking is considered as the primary driving force. [6] This process results in crystallites buried in donor-acceptor mixture, [7] which significantly influences the optoelectronic process in OPV.NFA molecules crystallize through backbone and side-chain interactions. The classic fused ring NFAs arouse great interest currently, [8] whose single crystal is taken as a platform to investigate the specific intermolecular interactions that govern the crystallization. NFA molecules are much larger compared with conventional organic semiconductors such as pentacene or its soluble analogs, which leads toThe success of nonfullerene acceptor (NFA) solar cells lies in their unique physical properties beyond the extended absorption and suitable energy levels. The current study investigates the morphology and photophysical behavior of PBDB-T donor blending with ITIC, 4TIC, and 6TIC acceptors. Single-crystal study shows that the π-π stacking and side-chain interaction dictate molecular assembly, which can be carried to blended films, forming a multi-length-scale morphology. Spontaneous carrier generation is seen in ITIC, 4TIC, and 6TIC neat films and their blended thin films using the PBDB-T donor, providing a new avenue of zero-energy-loss carrier formation. The molecular packing associated with specific contacts and geometry is key in influencing the photophysics, as demonstrated by the charge transfer and carrier lifetime results. The 2D layer of 6TIC facilitates the exciton-to-polaron conversion, and the largest photogenerated polaron yield is obtained. The new mechanism, together with the highly efficient blending region carrier generation, has the prospect of the fundamental advantage for NFA solar cells, from molecular assembly to thin-film morphology.

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Section: Thin-film Morphology Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Molecular Ordering and Double‐Channel Carrier Generation of Nonfullerene Photovoltaics within Multi‐Length‐Scale Morphology

Chen

et al. 2022

Advanced Materials

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“…As demonstrated in previous research, the DIO addition in PM6:IT4F blend films could induce a higher nucleation rate of PM6 in solution crystallization and also led to surface crystallization of PM6 to form a refined fiber network. [ 7 ] Such a process leads to a better‐defined fibril width and reduced fibril long‐axis order. However, this mechanism clearly indicates that tie‐chains could connect crystallites to form a network structure.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the morphology evolution kinetics in the slot‐die‐coated photoactive layer is slow compared with that of spin‐coating fabrication. [ 7 ] As such, the thin‐film crystallization and phase separation of slot‐die fabrication are quite different from that of spin‐coating fabrication. As the morphology of the photoactive layer is dictated by the interaction between donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials and their individual crystallization characteristics during the film formation process, complete understanding of the morphology evolution of the thin film fabricated by slot‐die coating fabrication is of critical importance to achieve a high device performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, the morphology evolution kinetics in the slot-die-coated photoactive layer is slow compared with that of spin-coating fabrication. [7] As such, the thin-film crystallization and phase separation of slot-die fabrication are quite different from that of spin-coating fabrication. As the morphology of the photoactive layer is dictated by the interaction between donor (D) and acceptor (A) materials and their…”

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confidence: 99%

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Slot‐Die‐Coated Organic Solar Cells Optimized through Multistep Crystallization Kinetics

Zhan

Zhou

et al. 2022

Solar RRL

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To fabricate organic solar cells (OSCs) via slot‐die coating, solvent additives are essential to induce an optimized phase‐separated and order morphology. It is critical to determine the morphological evolution from solution to solid state and understand the crystallization kinetics in slot‐die coating. Using in situ grazing‐incidence wide‐angle X‐ray scattering characterization, the morphological evolution in PM6‐ and ITIC‐based systems without or with 0.3% 1,8‐diiodooctane (DIO) as additive can be monitored in real‐time during slot‐die coating. As a result, DIO weakens the planarization of the PM6 backbone and splits the backbone ordering into fragments to form ordered crystallites. DIO also induces surface crystallization to reinforce the tie‐chain connections between the crystallites. Furthermore, in the ITIC system, DIO triggers the formation of an interconnected fibril network morphology and concurrently promotes the stacking of ITIC molecules in between the polymer network. Thus, an optimized morphology with a refined crystal structure is formed with the help of DIO. As a result, the power conversion efficiency is improved from 8.77% to 9.59% in slot‐die‐coated OSCs. These findings provide guidelines for optimizing the morphology in slot‐die‐coated OSCs and accelerate the transition of laboratory‐scale fabrication to industrial production.

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“…Figure 7A shows the evolution of relative crystallinity ( X t ) with crystallization time ( t ) for PBS, PBSA, and mPBSA, which is obtained based on DSC data, Equations (3) and (4). [ 41–43 ]

X_{t} goodbreak= \frac{\int_{T_{0}}^{T} ((), d H_{c} / italicdT) italicdT}{\int_{T_{0}}^{T_{\infty}} ((), d H_{c} / italicdT) italicdT}

t goodbreak= \frac{T_{0} - T}{\emptyset}

where T 0 and

T_{\infty}

are the initial crystallization temperature and the temperature of complete crystallization,

\emptyset

is the cooling rate.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improving crystallization properties of PBSA by blending PBS as a polymeric nucleating agent to prepare high‐performance PPC/PBSA/AX8900 blown films

Jiang

Wang

et al. 2022

Polymer Engineering & Sci

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Instability phenomena in film blowing of poly(propylene carbonate) (PPC)/ poly(butylene succinate-co-butylene adipate)(PBSA)/ethylene-methyl acrylateglycidyl methacrylate random terpolymer(AX8900) blends with a high PBSA content was due to low crystallization temperature of PBSA. As a polymeric nucleating agent, poly(butylene succinate) (PBS) was added to achieve a higher crystallization temperature and degree of crystallinity in PBSA/PBS blends (mPBSA). The initial nonisothermal crystallization temperature increased from 34.2 C (pure PBSA) to 57.1 C (mPBSA), leading to a significant improvement for film blowing stability of PPC/mPBSA/AX8900 films. High mPBSA content films were successfully prepared. SEM microphotographs showed that films containing mPBSA have flatter surfaces. PPC/mPBSA/ AX8900 films exhibited 105% greater elongation at break in the transverse direction as well as improved tensile strength and water vapor barrier properties, which has great potential application as green packaging. K E Y W O R D Sblown films, crystallization properties, poly(butylene succinate), poly(butylene succinateco-butylene adipate), poly(propylene carbonate)

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Manipulating Crystallization Kinetics of Conjugated Polymers in Nonfullerene Photovoltaic Blends toward Refined Morphologies and Higher Performances

Cited by 18 publications

References 68 publications

The Molecular Ordering and Double‐Channel Carrier Generation of Nonfullerene Photovoltaics within Multi‐Length‐Scale Morphology

The Molecular Ordering and Double‐Channel Carrier Generation of Nonfullerene Photovoltaics within Multi‐Length‐Scale Morphology

Slot‐Die‐Coated Organic Solar Cells Optimized through Multistep Crystallization Kinetics

Improving crystallization properties of PBSA by blending PBS as a polymeric nucleating agent to prepare high‐performance PPC/PBSA/AX8900 blown films

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