Heterogeneous nanoscale morphology in cross-sections of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells visualized by analytical electron microscopy

Energy Procedia

Volumn 31, Issue , 2012, Pages 46-59

  Flügge, Harald ^a   Pfannmöller, Martin ^b   Benner, Gerd ^c   Wacker, Irene ^d   Schmidt, Hans ^a   Rabe, Torsten ^a   Schröder, Rasmus R ^b,e   Kowalsky, Wolfgang ^a,e  

^a TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY OF BRAUNSCHWEIG   (Germany)

^b UNIVERSITY OF HEIDELBERG   (Germany)

^c CARL ZEISS SMT AG   (Germany)

^d KARLSRUHE INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY   (Germany)

^e INNOVATIONLAB   (Germany)

Author keywords

Analytical transmission electron microscopy; Bulk heterojunction devices; Morphology; Organic devices; Organic solar cell; Photovoltaic devices

Indexed keywords

EID: 84884568860     PISSN: 18766102     EISSN: None     Source Type: Conference Proceeding    
DOI: 10.1016/j.egypro.2012.11.164     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (37)

1. Tang CW Two layer organic photovoltaic cell. Appl. Phys. Lett. 1986; 48: 183.
2. Dennler G, Scharber MC, Brabec C J Polymer-Fullerene Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells.Adv. Mater. 2009; 21: 1323.
3. Schmidt H, Flügge H,Winkler T, Bülow T, Riedl T, Kowalsky W. Efficient semitransparent inverted organic solar cells with indium tin oxide top electrode. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2009; 94: 243302.
4. Brabec CJ, Sariciftci NS, Hummelen JC Plastic Solar Cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2001; 11: 15.
5. Liang Y, Xu Z, Xia J, Tsai S-T, Wu Y, Li G, Ray C, Yu L For the Bright Future-Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells with Power Conversion Efficiency of 7.4%. Adv. Mater. 2010; 22: 1.
6. Halls JJM., Walsh CA, Greenham NC, Marseglia EA, Friend RH, Moratti SC, Holmes AB, Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks. Nature 1995; 376: 498.
7. Kroeze JE, Savenije TJ, Vermeulen MJW, Warman JM, Contactless Determination of the Photoconductivity Action Spectrum, Exciton Diffusion Lenght, and Charge Separation Efficiency in Polythiophene-Sensitized TiO2 Bilayers. J. Phys. Chem. B 2003; 107: 7696.
8. Theander M, Yartsev A, Zigmantas D, Sundstrom V, Mammo W, Andersson MR, Inganas O. Photoluminescence quenching at a polythiophene/C60 heterojunction. O., Phys. Rev. B 2000; 61: 12957.
9. Li G, Shrotriya V, Yao Y, Huang J, Yang Y. Manipulating regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) 6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester blends-route towards high efficiency polymer solar cells. J. Mater. Chem. 2007; 17: 3126.
10. Ma W, Yang C, Gong X, Lee K, Heeger AJ. Thermally stable, efficent polymer solar cells with nanoscale control of the interpenetrating network morphology. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2005; 15: 1617.
11. Flügge H, Schmidt H, Riedl T, Schmale S, Rabe T, Fahlbusch J, Danilov M, Spieker H, Schobel J, Kowalsky W. Microwave annealing of polymer solar cells with various transparent anode materials. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2010; 97: 123306.
12. Zhao Y, Xie Z, Qu Y, Geng Y, Wang L. Solvent-vapor treatment induced performance enhancement of poly(3-hexylthiophene):methanofullerene bulk-heterojunction photovoltaic cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007; 90: 043504.
13. Li G, Yao Y, Yang H, Shrotriya V, Yang G., Yang Y. Solvent Annealing Effect in Polymer Solar Cells Based on Poly(3-hexylthiophene) and Methanofullerenes. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2007; 17: 1636.
14. Hoppe H, Sariciftci NS. Morphology of polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. J. Mater. Chem. 2006; 16: 45.
15. Oh JY, Jang WS, Lee TI, Myoung J-M, Baik HK. Driving vertical phase separation in a bulk-heterojunction by inserting a poly(3-hexylthiophene) layer for highly efficient organic solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2011; 98: 023303.
16. Wang DH, Lee HK, Choi D-G, Park JH, Park OO. Solution-processable polymer solar cells from a poly(3-hexylthiophene)[6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acidmethyl ester concentration graded bilayers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2009; 95: 043505.
17. Chen D, Nakahara A, Wei D, Nordlund D, Russell TP. P3HT/PCBM Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics: Correlating Efficiency and Morphology. Nano Lett. 2011; 11: 561.
18. Chen L-M, Hong Z, Li G, Yang Y. Adv. Mater. 2009; Recent Progress in Polymer Solar Cells: Manipulation of Polymer:Fullerene Morphology and the Formation of Efficient Inverted Polymer Solar Cells. 2009; 21: 1434.
19. Xu Z, Chen L-M, Chen M-H, Li G, Yang Y. Energy level alignment of poly(3-hexylthiophene): [6,6]-phenyl C[sub 61] butyric acid methyl ester bulk heterojunction. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2009; 95: 01301.
20. van Bavel SS, Sourty E, de With G, Loos J. Three-Dimensional Nanoscale Organization of Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells. Nano Lett. 2009; 9: 507.
21. Xu Z, Chen L-M, Yang G, Huang C-H, Hou J, Wu Y, Li G, Hsu C-S, Yang Y. Vertical Phase Separation in Poly(3-hexylthiophene): Fullerene Derivative Blends and its Advantage for Inverted Structure Solar Cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2009; 19: 1227.
22. Orimo A, Masuda K, Honda S, Benten H, Ito S, Ohkita H, Tsuji H. Surface segregation at the aluminum interface of poly(3-hexylthiophene):fullerene solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett.2010; 2096: 043305.
23. Parnell AJ, Dunbar ADF, Pearson AJ, Staniec PA, Dennison AJC, Hammamatsu H, Skoda MWA, Lidzey DG, Jomes RAL, Depletion of PCBM at the Cathode Interface in P3HT/PCBM Thin Films as Quantified via Neutron Reflectivity Measurements. Adv. Mater. 2010; 22: 2444.
24. Campoy-Quiles M, Ferenczi T, Agostinelli T, Etchegoin PG, Kim Y, Anthopoulos TD, Stavrinou PN, Bradley DDC, Nelson J. Morphology evolution via self-organization and lateral and vertical diffusion in polymer:fullerene solar cell blends. Nature Mater. 2008; 7: 158.
25. Jo J, Na S-I, Kim S-S, Lee T-W, Chung Y, Kang S-J, Vak D, Kim D-Y. Three-Dimensional Bulk Heterojunction Morphology for Achieving High Internal Quantum Efficiency in Polymer Solar Cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2009; 19: 1616.
26. Bjorstrom CM, Bernasik A, Rysz J, Budkowski A, Nilsson S, Svensson M, Andersson MR, Magnusson KO, Moons E. Multilayer formation in spin-coated thin films of low-bandgab polyfluorene:PCBM blendsJ. Phys.: Condens. Matter. 2005; 17: 529.
27. Germack DS, Chan CK, Hamadani BH, Richter LJ, Fischer DA, Gundlach DJ, De-Longchamp DM. Substrate-dependent interface composition and charge transport in films for organic photovoltaics, Appl. Phys. Lett. 2009; 94: 233303.
28. Li C-Y, Wen T-C, Guo T-F, Sulfonated poly(diphenylamine) as a novel hole-collecting layer in polymer photovoltaic cells. J. Mater. Chem. 2008; 18: 4478.
29. Wang X, Ederth T, Inganas O. In Situ Wilhelmy Balance Surface Energy Determination of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) and Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) during Electrochemical Doping-Dedoping. Langmuir 2006; 22: 9287
30. Pfannmoller M, Flügge H, Benner G, Wacker I, Somme Ch, Hanselmann M, Schmale Sch, Schmidt H, Hamprecht FA Rabe T, Kowalsky W, Schroder RR. Visualizing a homogeneous blend in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells by analytical electron microscopy, Nano Lett. unpublished
31. Pfannmoller M, Flügge H, Benner G, Wacker I, Kowalsky W, Schroder RR. Visualizing photovoltaic nanostructures with highresolution analytical electron microscopy reveals phases in bulk heterojunctions, Synthetic Metals
32. Sommer C, Straehle C, Kothe U. Ilastik: Interactive learning and segmentation toolkit. 8th IEEE International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging (ISBI) 2011.
33. Roweis ST, Saul LK. Nonlinear dimensionality reduction by locally linear embedding. Science 2000; 290: 2323.
34. Breiman L. Random Forests. Mach Learn 2001; 45: 5.
35. Herzing AA, Richter LJ, Anderson IM. 3D Nanoscale Characterization of Thin-Film Organic Photovoltaic Device Structures via Spectroscopic Contrast in the TEM. J. Phys. Chem. C 2010; 114: 17501.
36. Anselmo AS, Lindgren L, Rysz J, Bernasik A, Budkowski A, Andersson MR, Svensson K, van Stam J, Moons E. Tuning the vertical phase separation in polyfluorene:fullerene blend films by polymer functionalization. Chem. Mater. 2011; 23: 2295.
37. Vaynzof Y, Kabra D, Zhao L, Chua LL, Steiner U, Friend RH. Surface-directed spinodal decomposition in poly[3-hexylthiophene] and C61-butyric acid methyl ester blends. ACS Nano 2011; 5: 329.