Improving the morphology of PCDTBT:PC70BM bulk heterojunction by mixed-solvent vapor-assisted imprinting: Inhibiting intercalation, optimizing vertical phase separation, and enhancing photon absorption

Journal of Physical Chemistry C

Volumn 118, Issue 9, 2014, Pages 4585-4595

  Liu, Jiangang ^a   Liang, Qiuju ^a   Wang, Haiyang ^a   Li, Mingguang ^a   Han, Yanchun ^a   Xie, Zhiyuan ^a   Wang, Lixiang ^a  

^a CHANGCHUN INSTITUTE OF APPLIED CHEMISTRY   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

BULK HETEROJUNCTION; CARRIER RECOMBINATION; LATERAL PHASE SEPARATION; MORPHOLOGY TRANSITIONS; POWER CONVERSION EFFICIENCIES; SURFACE RELIEF GRATINGS; VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS; VERTICAL PHASE SEPARATIONS;

DIFFRACTION GRATINGS; FULLERENES; HETEROJUNCTIONS; PHASE SEPARATION; PHOTOELECTRONS; PHOTONS; SOLVENTS; SPECTROSCOPIC ELLIPSOMETRY; TRANSMISSION ELECTRON MICROSCOPY; VAPORS; X RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY;

ORGANIC SOLVENTS;

EID: 84897678353     PISSN: 19327447     EISSN: 19327455     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1021/jp409517q     Document Type: Article

References (43)

1. Lu, L.; Luo, Z.; Xu, T.; Yu, L. Cooperative Plasmonic Effect of Ag and Au Nanoparticles on Enhancing Performance of Polymer Solar Cells Nano Lett. 2013, 13, 59-64
2. Zhang, M.; Gu, Y.; Guo, X.; Liu, F.; Zhang, S.; Huo, L.; Russell, T. P.; Hou, J. Efficient Polymer Solar Cells Based on Benzothiadiazole and Alkylphenyl Substituted Benzodithiophene with a Power Conversion Efficiency over 8% Adv. Mater. 2013, 10.1002/adma.201301494
3. Li, X.; Choy, W. C. H.; Huo, L.; Xie, F.; Sha, W. E. I.; Ding, B.; Guo, X.; Li, Y.; Hou, J.; You, J.; Yang, Y. Dual Plasmonic Nanostructures for High Performance Inverted Organic Solar Cells Adv. Mater. 2012, 24, 3046-3052
4. Po, R.; Maggini, M.; Camaioni, N. Polymer Solar Cells: Recent Approaches and Achievements J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 695-706
5. Blouin, N.; Michaud, A.; Gendron, D.; Wakim, S.; Blair, E.; Neagu-Plesu, R.; Belletete, M.; Durocher, G.; Tao, Y.; Leclerc, M. Toward a Rational Design of Poly(2,7-carbazole) Derivatives for Solar Cells J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 732-742
6. Yamamoto, S.; Ohkita, H.; Benten, H.; Ito, S. Role of Interfacial Charge Transfer State in Charge Generation and Recombination in Low-Bandgap Polymer Solar Cell J. Phys. Chem. C 2012, 116, 14804-14810
7. Staniec, P. A.; Parnell, A. J.; Dunbar, A. D. F.; Yi, H.; Pearson, A. J.; Wang, T.; Hopkinson, P. E.; Kinane, C.; Dalgliesh, R. M.; Donald, A. M. The Nanoscale Morphology of a PCDTBT:PCBM Photovoltaic Blend Adv. Energy Mater. 2011, 1, 499-504
8. Blouin, N.; Michaud, A.; Leclerc, M. A Low-Bandgap Poly(2,7-carbazole) Derivative for Use in High-Performance Solar Cells Adv. Mater. 2007, 19, 2295-2300
9. Loos, J. Volume Morphology of Printable Solar Cells Mater. Today 2010, 13, 14-20
10. Brabec, C. J.; Heeney, M.; McCulloch, I.; Nelson, J. Influence of Blend Microstructure on Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Performance Chem. Soc. Rev. 2011, 40, 1185-1199
11. Cates, N. C.; Gysel, R.; Beiley, Z.; Miller, C. E.; Toney, M. F.; Heeney, M.; McCulloch, I.; McGehee, M. D. Tuning the Properties of Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells by Adjusting Fullerene Size to Control Intercalation Nano Lett. 2009, 9, 4153-4157
12. Miller, N. C.; Gysel, R.; Miller, C. E.; Verploegen, E.; Beiley, Z.; Heeney, M.; McCulloch, I.; Bao, Z.; Toney, M. F.; McGehee, M. D. The Phase Behavior of a Polymer-Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction System That Contains Bimolecular Crystals J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2011, 49, 499-503
13. Liu, J.; Chen, L.; Gao, B.; Cao, X.; Han, Y.; Xie, Z.; Wang, L. Constructing the Nanointerpenetrating Structure of PCDTBT:PC70BM Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Induced by Aggregation of PC70BM via Mixed-Solvent Vapor Annealing J. Mater. Chem. A 2013, 1, 6216-6225
14. Liu, J.; Shao, S.; Wang, H.; Zhao, K.; Xue, L.; Gao, X.; Xie, Z.; Han, Y. The Mechanisms for Introduction of N -Dodecylthiol to Modify the P3HT/PCBM Morphology Org. Electron. 2010, 11, 775-783
15. Miller, N. C.; Sweetnam, S.; Hoke, E. T.; Gysel, R.; Miller, C. E.; Bartelt, J. A.; Xie, X.; Toney, M. F.; McGehee, M. D. Molecular Packing and Solar Cell Performance in Blends of Polymers with a Bisadduct Fullerene Nano Lett. 2012, 12, 1566-1570
16. Xin, H.; Guo, X.; Ren, G.; Watson, M. D.; Jenekhe, S. A. Efficient Phthalimide Copolymer-Based Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: How the Processing Additive Influences Nanoscale Morphology and Photovoltaic Properties Adv. Energy Mater. 2012, 2, 575-582
17. Yang, B. W.; Tsai, M. Y.; Cheng, W. H.; Chen, J. S.; Hsu, S. L. C.; Chou, W. Y. Synergistic Amplification of Short Circuit Current for Organic Solar Cells via Modulation of P3HT:PCBM Spatial Distribution with Solvent Treatment J. Phys. Chem. C 2012, 14, 8313-8318
18. Kokubu, R.; Yang, Y. Vertical Phase Separation of Conjugated Polymer and Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Films Induced by High Pressure Carbon Dioxide Treatment at Ambient Temperature Phys. Chem. Chem. Phys. 2012, 14, 8313-8318
19. Xu, Z.; Chen, L. M.; Yang, G. W.; Huang, C. H.; Hou, J. H.; 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, 1227-1234
20. Germack, D. S.; Chan, C. K.; Kline, R. J.; Fischer, D. A.; Gundlach, D. J.; Toney, M. F.; Richter, L. J.; DeLongchamp, D. M. Interfacial Segregation in Polymer/Fullerene Blend Films for Photovoltaic Devices Macromolecules 2010, 43, 3828-3836
21. Park, H. J.; Kang, M.-G.; Ahn, S. H.; Guo, L. J. A Facile Route to Polymer Solar Cells with Optimum Morphology Readily Applicable to a Roll-to-Roll Process without Sacrificing High Device Performance Adv. Mater. 2010, 22, E247-253
22. Xue, B. F.; Vaughan, B.; Poh, C. H.; Burke, K. B.; Thomsen, L.; Andrew Stapleton, X. Z.; Bryant, G. W.; Belcher, W.; Dastoor, P. C. Vertical Stratification and Interfacial Structure in P3HT:PCBM Organic Solar Cells J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 15797-15805
23. Wang, D. H.; Kim, D. Y.; Choi, K. W.; Seo, J. H.; Im, S. H.; Park, J. H.; Park, O. O.; Heeger, A. J. Enhancement of Donor-Acceptor Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cell Power Conversion Efficiencies by Addition of Au Nanoparticles Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2011, 50, 5519-5523
24. Wu, J. L.; Chen, F. C.; Hsiao, Y. S.; Chien, F. C.; Chen, P.; Kuo, C. H.; Huang, M. H.; Hsu, C. S. Surface Plasmonic Effects of Metallic Nanoparticles on the Performance of Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells ACS Nano 2011, 5, 959-967
25. Fan, G. Q.; Zhuo, Q. Q.; Zhu, J. J.; Xu, Z. Q.; Cheng, P. P.; Li, Y. Q.; Sun, X. H.; Lee, S. T.; Tang, J. X. Plasmonic-Enhanced Polymer Solar cells Incorporating Solution-Processable Au Nanoparticle-Adhered Graphene Oxide J. Mater. Chem. 2012, 22, 15614-15619
26. Li, K.; Zhen, H.; Huang, Z.; Li, G.; Liu, X. Embedded Surface Reef Gratings by a Simple Method to Improve Absorption and Electrical Properties of Polymer Solar Cells ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2012, 4, 4393-4397
27. Li, X. H.; Sha, W. E. I.; Choy, W. C. H.; Fung, D. D. S.; Xie, F. X. Efficient Inverted Polymer Solar Cells with Directly Patterned Active Layer and Silver Back Grating J. Phys. Chem. C 2012, 116, 7200-7206
28. Ahn, S. H.; Guo, L. J. Large-Area Roll-to-Roll and Roll-to-Plate Nanoimprint Lithography: A Step toward High-Throughput Application of Continuous Nanoimprinting ACS Nano 2009, 3, 2304-2310
29. Liu, J.; Sun, Y.; Zheng, L.; Geng, Y.; Han, Y. Vapor-Assisted Imprinting to Pattern Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) film with Oriented Arrangement of Nanofibrils and Flat-On Conformation of P3HT Chains Polymer 2013, 54, 423-430
30. van Bavel, S.; Sourty, E.; de With, G.; Frolic, K.; Loos, J. Relation between Photoactive Layer Thickness, 3D Morphology, and Device Performance in P3HT/PCBM Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells Macromolecules 2009, 42, 7396-7403
31. Wang, T.; Pearson, A. J.; Dunbar, A. D. F.; Staniec, P. A.; Watters, D. C.; Yi, H.; Ryan, A. J.; Jones, R. A. L.; Iraqi, A.; Lidzey, D. G. Correlating Structure with Function in Thermally Annealed PCDTBT:PC70BM Photovoltaic Blends Adv. Funct. Mater. 2012, 22, 1399-1408
32. Yao, Y.; Hou, J. H.; Xu, Z.; Li, G.; Yang, Y. Effect of Solvent Mixture on the Nanoscale Phase Separation in Polymer Solar Cells Adv. Funct. Mater. 2008, 18, 1783-1789
33. 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, 1636-1644
34. Yuan, Y.; Zhang, J.; Sun, J. Effect of Solvent Evaporation Rate on Order-to-Disorder Phase Transition Behavior of Regioregular Poly(3- butylthiophene) Macromolecules 2011, 44, 6128-6135
35. 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, 2398-2406
36. Jamieson, F. C.; Domingo, E. B.; McCarthy-Ward, T.; Heeney, M.; Stingelin, N.; Durrant, J. R. Fullerene Crystallisation as a Key Driver of Charge Separation in Polymer/Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Chem. Sci. 2012, 3, 485-492
37. Miller, N. C.; Cho, E.; Gysel, R.; Risko, C.; Coropceanu, V.; Miller, C. E.; Sweetnam, S.; Sellinger, A.; Heeney, M.; McCulloch, I.; Bredas, J. L.; Toney, M. F.; McGehee, M. D. Factors Governing Intercalation of Fullerenes and Other Small Molecules Between the Side Chains of Semiconducting Polymers Used in Solar Cells Adv. Energy Mater. 2012, 2, 1208-1217
38. Tang, H.; Lu, G.; Li, L.; Li, J.; Wang, Y.; Yang, X. Precise Construction of PCBM Aggregates for Polymer Solar Cells via Multi-Step Controlled Solvent Vapor Annealing J. Mater. Chem. 2010, 20, 683-688
39. Yang, X. N.; Alexeev, A.; Michels, M. A. J.; Loos, J. Effect of Spatial Confinement on the Morphology Evolution of Thin Poly(p -phenylenevinylene)/ Methanofullerene Composite Films Macromolecules 2005, 38, 4289-4295
40. Clark, M. D.; Jespersen, M. L.; Patel, R. J.; Leever, B. J. Predicting Vertical Phase Segregation in Polymer-Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells by Free Energy Analysis ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2013, 5, 4799-4807
41. Na, S. I.; Kim, S. S.; Jo, J.; Oh, S. H.; Kim, J.; Kim, D. Y. Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Surface Relief Gratings Fabricated by Simple Soft Lithography Adv. Funct. Mater. 2008, 18, 3956-3963
42. Hansen, R. M. d. O.; Liu, Y.; Madsen, M.; Rubahn, H. G. Flexible Organic Solar Cells Including Efficiency Enhancing Grating Structures Nanotechnology 2013, 24, 145301
43. Wang, W. L.; Wu, H. B.; Yang, C. Y.; Luo, C.; Zhang, Y.; Chen, J. W.; Cao, Y. High-Efficiency Polymer Photovoltaic Devices from Regioregular-poly(3- hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and [6,6]-Phenyl-C-61-butyric Acid Methyl Ester Processed with Oleic Acid Surfactant Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007, 90, 183512