Organic Semiconductor:Insulator Polymer Ternary Blends for Photovoltaics

Ferenczi, Toby A. M.; Müller, Christian; Bradley, Donal D. C.; Smith, Paul; Nelson, Jenny; Stingelin, Natalie

doi:10.1002/adma.201102100

Cited by 81 publications

(97 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Blends of an organic semiconductor and insulating polymer have been successfully employed for a range of opto‐electronic devices including field‐effect transistors (FETs)5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 and bulk‐heterojunction solar cells,13, 14 as well as applications such as elastic conductors15, 16, 17 and organic thermoelectrics 18, 19. In order to maintain a good device performance at low content of the conjugated polymer judiciously chosen processing schemes are necessary.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Solution‐Doped Polymer Semiconductor:Insulator Blend for Thermoelectrics

Kiefer

Fransson

et al. 2016

Advanced Science

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Poly(ethylene oxide) is demonstrated to be a suitable matrix polymer for the solution‐doped conjugated polymer poly(3‐hexylthiophene). The polarity of the insulator combined with carefully chosen processing conditions permits the fabrication of tens of micrometer‐thick films that feature a fine distribution of the F4TCNQ dopant:semiconductor complex. Changes in electrical conductivity from 0.1 to 0.3 S cm−1 and Seebeck coefficient from 100 to 60 μV K−1 upon addition of the insulator correlate with an increase in doping efficiency from 20% to 40% for heavily doped ternary blends. An invariant bulk thermal conductivity of about 0.3 W m−1 K−1 gives rise to a thermoelectric Figure of merit ZT ∼ 10−4 that remains unaltered for an insulator content of more than 60 wt%. Free‐standing, mechanically robust tapes illustrate the versatility of the developed dopant:semiconductor:insulator ternary blends.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Solution‐Doped Polymer Semiconductor:Insulator Blend for Thermoelectrics

Kiefer

Fransson

et al. 2016

Advanced Science

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“…13 Such third components can be crosslinkers, [14][15][16] conventional fullerenes, [17][18][19] modified fullerene derivatives, [20][21][22] compatibilizers 23,24 or insulating polymers. 25 In this work, we overcome the aggregation of the fullerene acceptor PC 61 BM during thermal annealing by employing ternary D-D-A blends comprising two commercially available donor polymers. After thermal stress at 120°C for 2 h, the corresponding solar cells maintain over 90% of their initial performance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced thermal stability of organic solar cells comprising ternary D-D-A bulk-heterojunctions

et al. 2017

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Ternary absorber blends have recently been identified as promising concepts to spectrally broaden the absorption of organic bulkheterojunction solar cells and hence to improve their power conversion efficiencies. In this work, we demonstrate that D-D-A ternary blends comprising two donor polymers and the acceptor PC 61 BM can also significantly enhance the thermal stability of the solar cell. Upon harsh thermal stress at 120°C for 2 h, the ternary solar cells show only a minor relative deterioration of 10%. Whereas the polymer/fullerene blend PTB7-Th:PC 61 BM is rather unstable under these conditions, its degradation was efficiently suppressed by incorporating the near infrared-absorbing polymer PDTP-DFBT. Spectroscopic ellipsometry investigations and an effective medium analysis of the ternary absorber blend revealed that the domain conformation in presence of PDTP-DFBT remains stable whereas the domain conformation changes in its absence. The ternary PTB7-Th:PDTP-DFBT:PC 61 BM solar cells yield thermally stable power conversion efficiencies of up to 6%.npj Flexible Electronics (2017) 1:11 ; doi:10.1038/s41528-017-0011-z INTRODUCTIONThe continuous improvement of materials and device architectures for organic bulk-heterojunction solar cells nowadays constantly enables power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) beyond 10%.1, 2 While the PCEs of state-of-the-art organic solar cells are sufficient to meet the demands of some first applications and hence to foster market entry, the device stability often drags behind. The stability of organic solar cells is often limited by a metastable bulk-heterojunction morphology, the diffusion of electrode or buffer layer components into adjacent layers, material decomposition through oxygen and water ingress, irradiation, mechanical stress or heat.3-5 Yet, excellent thermal stability of the organic solar cells is a prerequisite for most future applications. Besides thermal stress when the solar cell is exposed to the sun, the devices may have to endure harsh conditions during fabrication, e.g., when manufacturing car roofs, tiles or façade elements, typically requiring lamination temperatures of 120°C for several hours. 6,7 Upon thermal stress, one of the major degradation mechanisms is the aggregation of fullerene acceptors, commonly [6,6]-phenyl C 71 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 71 BM) or [6,6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM). 8,9 In the recent literature, several methods were discussed to hamper fullerene aggregation-for example sample irradiation during annealing, 10 structural modification of fullerenes 11 or replacing fullerenes with non-fullerene acceptors.12 Another promising concept to reduce degradation in fullerene-based solar cells is the use of third components which can improve the mechanical, photo, air and thermal stability of organic solar cells.13 Such third components can be crosslinkers, [14][15][16] In this work, we overcome the aggregation of the fullerene acceptor PC 61 BM during thermal annealing by employing ternary D-D-A blends comprisi...

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“…This approach, whereby the 'active' organic semiconductor is blended with an inert insulating polymer, has been used in organic field effect transistors (OFETs), where it has been shown to increase lifetime with minimal effect on electronic properties [18,19]. For example, blending high-density 3 polyethylene (HDPE) with P3HT in an OFET results in a lifetime of around four months in air, as compared to a reference P3HT OFET which lasted only a few hours [20].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Notwithstanding this initial success in the use of insulating polymers to improve the lifetime of OFETs, there are relatively few studies on the application of this technique in OPVs. Ferenczi et al [18] showed that adding up to 50 weight percent of HDPE or isotactic polystyrene (i-PS) to P3HT:PCBM OPVs had minimal detrimental effect on intial device performance. Indeed, Wu et al [22] have demonstrated that adding PMMA to a P3HT:PCBM blend can actually improve the initial fill factor and open circuit voltage of the resulting OPV.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced lifetime of organic photovoltaic diodes utilizing a ternary blend including an insulating polymer

Al-Busaidi

Pearson

Groves

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Organic Semiconductor:Insulator Polymer Ternary Blends for Photovoltaics

Cited by 81 publications

References 38 publications

A Solution‐Doped Polymer Semiconductor:Insulator Blend for Thermoelectrics

A Solution‐Doped Polymer Semiconductor:Insulator Blend for Thermoelectrics

Enhanced thermal stability of organic solar cells comprising ternary D-D-A bulk-heterojunctions

Enhanced lifetime of organic photovoltaic diodes utilizing a ternary blend including an insulating polymer

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