Role of photoactive layer morphology in high fill factor all-polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells

Fabiano, Simone; Chen, Zhihua; Vahedi, Sina; Facchetti, Antonio; Pignataro, Bruno; Loi, Maria Antonietta

doi:10.1039/c0jm03405c

Cited by 153 publications

(148 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…28 Consequently, the earlier reports on the all-PSC measurements of P3HT/P(NDI2OD-T2) blend showed very low device efficiency value (PCE, 0.2%). 29,30 Later studies showed that the aggregation in P(NDI2OD-T2) could be suppressed significantly in the early stage of film formation by using more polar aromatic solvents. 31 Indeed, the solar cell devices prepared from such nonaggregated solution showed improved PCE due to good intermixing of donor and acceptor components, thereby efficiently harvesting photogenerated excitons at donor−acceptor interface.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved All-Polymer Solar Cell Performance of n-Type Naphthalene Diimide–Bithiophene P(NDI2OD-T2) Copolymer by Incorporation of Perylene Diimide as Coacceptor

et al. 2016

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Naphthalene diimide−bithiophene P(NDI2OD-T2) is a well-known donor−acceptor polymer, previously explored as n-type material in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) and organic field effect transistor (OFETs) applications. The optical, bulk, electrochemical, and semiconducting properties of P(NDI2OD-T2) polymer were tuned via random incorporation of perylene diimide (PDI) as coacceptor with naphthalene diimide (NDI). Three random copolymers containing 2,2′-bithiophene as donor unit and varying compositions of naphthalene diimide (NDI) and perylene diimide (xPDI, x = 15, 30, and 50 mol % of PDI) as two mixed acceptors were synthesized by Stille coupling copolymerization. Proton NMR spectra recorded in CDCl 3 showed that the π−π stacking induced aggregation among the naphthalene units could be successfully disrupted by the random incorporation of bulky PDI units. The newly synthesized random copolymers were investigated as electron acceptors in BHJ all-PSCs, and their performance was compared with P(NDI2OD-T2) as reference polymer. An enhanced PCE of 5.03% was observed for BHJ all-PSCs (all-polymer solar cells) fabricated using NDI-Th-PDI30 as acceptor and PTB7-Th as donor, while the reference polymer blend with the same donor polymer exhibited PCE of 2.97% efficiency under similar conditions. SCLC bulk carrier mobility measured for blend devices showed improved charge mobility compared to reference polymer, with PTB7-Th:NDI-Th-PDI30 blend device exhibiting the high hole and electron mobility of 4.2 × 10 −4 and 1.5 × 10 −4 cm 2 /(V s), respectively. This work demonstrates the importance of molecular design via random copolymer strategy to control the bulk crystallinity, compatibility, blend morphology, and solar cell performance of n-type copolymers.

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Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Improved All-Polymer Solar Cell Performance of n-Type Naphthalene Diimide–Bithiophene P(NDI2OD-T2) Copolymer by Incorporation of Perylene Diimide as Coacceptor

et al. 2016

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“…The well-known composite of P3HT and a fullerene derivative, PCBM, has little absorptivity in the NIR region longer than 650 nm. Therefore, a variety of LBPs have been synthesized, consequently, being available for choosing polymers with a preferable bandgap and adequate HOMO/LUMO potentials as electron donor and acceptors [9][10][11]. The absorption spectrum of N2200 in Fig.…”

Section: P3ht/n2200 and P3ht/n2200/sinc Blendsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of Polymer Blend Solar Cells Composed of Conjugated Donor and Acceptor Polymers

Ito

Hirata

Mori

et al. 2013

J. Photopol. Sci. Technol.

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All-polymer solar cells are expected as one of next generation photovoltaics. This paper presents two kinds of polymer/polymer blend solar cells to exemplify the potential advantages compared with conventional organic solar cells. The large difference in the HOMO/LUMO levels of donor/acceptor polymers results in a high voltage, and the large absorptivity up to near-infrared wavelengths allows to increase the photocurrent density. These characteristics are brought by development of a variety of low bandgap polymers. For the further improvement of conversion efficiency, it is a crucial issue to control the phase-separation structure on a nanometer scale.

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“…Some approaches have been tested to control the nanoscale film morphologies of polymer/PCBM blends. [33][34][35][36] The addition of a compatibilizer to suppress large-scale phase separation of the polymer/PCBM blend can enhance the long-term thermal stability of the cell performance. 33 Incorporating electron acceptors with high mobility in the polymer/PCBM blend film can result in highly balanced electron and hole mobilities, thereby enhancing the PV performance of the PSC.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…33 Incorporating electron acceptors with high mobility in the polymer/PCBM blend film can result in highly balanced electron and hole mobilities, thereby enhancing the PV performance of the PSC. 34 Light-or solvent-soaking to tailor the morphology of the active layer is another potential approach toward improving the PV stabilities of PSCs. 35,36 On the other hand, decreased PV efficiency stability is closely related to the degree of thermally induced aggregation of the polymer chains and PCBM units.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of a series of bulk heterojunction solar cells based on interchain-linked conjugated polymers

Lee

Chen

Shiau

2012

Polym J

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We have used Suzuki coupling to synthesize a series of maleimide-thiophene copolymers presenting pendent 2-hydroxyethyl and 6-hydroxyhexyl units. The maleimide-thiophene copolymers containing different contents of OH groups were then reacted with 3,3 0 -dimethoxy-4,4 0 -biphenylene diisocyanate (DMBPI) in solution to form the interchain-linked polymers. The interchainlinked polymers exhibited excellent solubility in organic solvents. The average molecular weight and thermal stability of the copolymers increased after interchain linking with DMBPI. The wavelengths of maximum absorption of the interchain-linked copolymers were red-shifted relative to those of the corresponding side-chain copolymers. The energy level of the lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals and highest occupied molecular orbitals decreased after the copolymers had undergone interchain linking with DMBPI. We fabricated polymer solar cells (PSCs) from blends of the interchain-linked copolymers and Keywords: fullerene derivative; maleimide-thiophene copolymer; polymer solar cell INTRODUCTIONThe development of novel low-band gap p-conjugated polymers is an attractive research area because bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs) incorporating them can be fabricated at low cost with large areas, flexible shapes, light weight and solution processability. [1][2][3][4][5][6] The photoactive layer in most bulk heterojunction cells is based on a blend of an electron-donor conjugated polymer and an electronacceptor fullerene derivative, typically [6,6]-phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Several recent efforts have focused on the synthesis of a new low-band gap conjugated polymers that improve the absorption of solar radiation and increase charge mobilities. [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] In addition to the intrinsic characteristics of the polymer, the amount of PCBM in the blend, 17,18 the compatibility of the polymer and PCBM, the morphology of the photoactive layer 19-21 and the deviceprocessing conditions all have important roles affecting the photovoltaic (PV) performance of PSCs. [8][9][10]22,23 Photo-energy conversion efficiencies (Z) of 47% have been achieved for PSCs based on blends of poly(thiophene) derivatives and fullerene derivatives. [7][8][9][10]24,25 In addition to the short-circuit current densities (J SC ) and values of Z that are typically measured, recent investigations have also been made into optimizing the PV efficiency stability of PSCs. For example, incorporation of a ultraviolet (UV) shielding layer into a PSC can

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Role of photoactive layer morphology in high fill factor all-polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells

Cited by 153 publications

References 42 publications

Improved All-Polymer Solar Cell Performance of n-Type Naphthalene Diimide–Bithiophene P(NDI2OD-T2) Copolymer by Incorporation of Perylene Diimide as Coacceptor

Improved All-Polymer Solar Cell Performance of n-Type Naphthalene Diimide–Bithiophene P(NDI2OD-T2) Copolymer by Incorporation of Perylene Diimide as Coacceptor

Development of Polymer Blend Solar Cells Composed of Conjugated Donor and Acceptor Polymers

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of a series of bulk heterojunction solar cells based on interchain-linked conjugated polymers

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