Nanophase Engineering of Organic Semiconductor-Based Solar Cells

Yang, Bin; Shao, M.; Keum, Jong K.; Geohegan, David B.; Xiao, Kai

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-20331-7_7

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 109 publications

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“…During the past decades, conjugated polymers have emerged as cost-effective, functional materials for organic electronic devices such as solar cells, field-effect transistors (FETs), thermoelectrics, and light-emitting diodes [1][2][3][4][5][6]. In organic semiconducting polymer-based devices, the polymer morphology, chain orientation, and crystallinity strongly affect the charge carrier mobility and, thereby, the overall device performance [7][8][9][10][11]. Conjugated polymers exhibit anisotropic charge transport because charges delocalize along the polymer backbone due to overlapping π-orbitals [12][13][14].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of thermal annealing on microstructure, energetic landscape and device performance of P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells

Alam,

Petoukhoff,

Jurado

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Energy

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Thermal annealing alters the morphology of organic donor-acceptor bulk-heterojunction thin films used in organic solar cells. Here, we studied the influence of thermal annealing on blends of amorphous regio-random (RRa) and semi-crystalline regio-regular (RR) poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester. Since the P3HT:PCBM blend is one of the most studied in the OPV community, the existing research provides a solid foundation for us to compare and benchmark our innovative characterization techniques that have been previously under-utilized to investigate bulk heterojunction organic thin films. Here, we combine advanced novel microscopies and spectroscopies, including polarized light microscopy (PLM), photo-deflection spectroscopy (PDS), hyperspectral photoluminescence spectroscopy (HPLS), and energy resolved-electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (ER-EIS), with structural characterization techniques, including grazing-incidence wide-angle x-ray scattering (GIWAXS), grazing-incidence x-ray diffraction (GIXD), and Raman spectroscopy, in order to reveal the impact of thermal annealing on the microstructural crystallinity and morphology of the photoactive layer in organic solar cells. Coupled transfer matrix and drift-diffusion simulations were used to study the impact of the density of states (DOS) on the solar cells' device parameters, namely the short-circuit current (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF), and power conversion efficiency (PCE).

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Influence of thermal annealing on microstructure, energetic landscape and device performance of P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells

Alam,

Petoukhoff,

Jurado

et al. 2024

J. Phys. Energy

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Enhancing the Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaics by a Photoactive Molecular Mediator

et al. 2017

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High boiling‐point solvent additives, such as 1,8‐diiodooctane, have been widely used to tune nanoscale phase morphology for increased efficiency in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. However, liquid‐state solvent additives remain in the active films for extended times and later migrate or evaporate from the films, leading to unstable device performance. Here, a solid‐state photoactive molecular mediator, namely N(BAI)3, is reported that could be employed to replace the commonly used solvent additives to tune the morphology of bulk heterojunction films for improved device performance. The N(BAI)3 mediator not only resides in the active films locally to fine tune the phase morphology, but also contributes to the additional absorption of the active films, leading to ∼11% enhancement of power conversion efficiency of P3HT:PC60BM devices. Comparative studies are carried out to probe the nanoscale morphologies using grazing incidence wide‐angle X‐ray scattering and complementary neutron reflectometry. The use of 1 wt% N(BAI)3 is found to effectively tune the packing of P3HT, presumably through balanced π‐interactions endowed by its large conjugated π surface, and to promote the formation of a PC60BM‐rich top interfacial layer. These findings open up a new way to effectively tailor the phase morphology by photoactive molecular mediators in organic photovoltaics.

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In Situ X-Ray Studies of Crystallization Kinetics and Ordering in Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials

Yang

Keum

Geohegan

et al. 2018

In-Situ Characterization Techniques for Nanomaterials

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Nanophase Engineering of Organic Semiconductor-Based Solar Cells

Cited by 4 publications

References 109 publications

Influence of thermal annealing on microstructure, energetic landscape and device performance of P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells

Influence of thermal annealing on microstructure, energetic landscape and device performance of P3HT:PCBM-based organic solar cells

Enhancing the Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaics by a Photoactive Molecular Mediator

In Situ X-Ray Studies of Crystallization Kinetics and Ordering in Functional Organic and Hybrid Materials

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