Vertical phase separation in bulk heterojunction solar cells formed by in situ polymerization of fulleride

Scientific Reports

Volumn 4, Issue , 2014, Pages

  Zhang, Lipei ^a   Xing, Xing ^a   Zheng, Lingling ^a   Chen, Zhijian ^a,b   Xiao, Lixin ^a,b   Qu, Bo ^a,b   Gong, Qihuang ^a  

^a PEKING UNIVERSITY   (China)

^b New Display Device and Syst Intgn Collab Innovation Center of the West Coast of the Taiwan Strait   (China)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 84901493454     PISSN: None     EISSN: 20452322     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1038/srep05071     Document Type: Article

References (46)

1. Oosterhout, S. D. et al. The effect of three-dimensional morphology on the efficiency of hybrid polymer solar cells. Nat. Mater. 8, 818824 (2009).
2. Lee, J. K. et al. J Processing additives for improved efficiency from bulk heterojunction solar cells. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 130, 36193623 (2008).
3. Haugeneder, A. et al. Exciton diffusion and dissociation in conjugated polymer/ fullerene blends and heterostructures. Phys. Rev. B: Condens. Matter 59, 1534615351 (1999).
4. Hau, S. K., Yip, H.-L., Chen, K.-S., Zou, J. & Jen, A. K. Y. Solution processed inverted tandem polymer solar cells with self-assembled monolayer modified interfacial layers. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 253-307 (2010).
5. Yu, G., Gao, J., Hummelen, J. C., Wudl, F. & Heeger, A. J. Polymer photovoltaic cells: enhanced efficiencies via a network of internal donor-acceptor heterojunctions. Science 270, 17891791 (1995).
6. Halls, J. J. M. et al. Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks. Nature 376, 498500 (1995).
7. Shaheen, S. E. et al. 2.5% efficient organic plastic solar cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 78, 841843 (2001).
8. Yang, X. et al. Nanoscale morphology of high-performance polymer solar cells. Nano Lett. 5, 579583 (2005).
9. Yang, X. & Loos, J. Toward high-performance polymer solar cells: the importance of morphology control. Macromolecules 40, 13531362 (2007).
10. Müller, C. et al. Binary organic photovoltaic blends: a simple rationale for optimum compositions. Adv. Mater. 20, 35103515 (2008).
11. 60. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 91, 399404 (2007).
12. Colsmann, A., Junge, J., Kayser, C. & Lemmer, U. Organic tandem solar cells comprising polymer and small-molecule subcells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 203506 (2006).
13. Sista, S. et al. Highly efficient tandem polymer photovoltaic cells. Adv. Mater. 22, 380383 (2010).
14. Ma, W., Yang, C., Gong, X., Lee, K. & Heeger, A. J. Thermally stable, efficient polymer solar cells with nanoscale control of the interpenetrating network morphology. Adv. Funct. Mater. 15, 16171622 (2005).
15. Xu, Z. et al. Vertical phase separation in poly(3-hexylthiophene): fullerene derivative blends and its advantage for inverted structure solar cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 12271234 (2009).
16. Kim, Y. et al. Device annealing effect in organic solar cells with blends of regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) and soluble fullerene. Appl. Phys. Lett. 86, 063502 (2005).
17. Chen, L.-M., Xu, Z., Hong, Z. & Yang, Y. Interface investigation and engineeringachieving high performance polymer photovoltaic devices. J. Mater. Chem. 20, 25752598 (2010).
18. Chen, L.-M., Hong, Z., Li, G. & Yang, Y. Recent progress in polymer solar cells: manipulation of polymer:fullerene morphology and the formation of efficient inverted polymer solar cells. Adv. Mater. 21, 14341449 (2009).
19. Huang, Y.-C., Welch, G. C., Bazan, G. C., Chabinyc, M. L. & Su, W.-F. Self-vertical phase separation study of nanoparticle/polymer solar cells by introducing fluorinated small molecules. Chem. Commun. 48, 72507252 (2012).
20. Xue, B. et al. Vertical stratification and interfacial structure in P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells. J. Phys. Chem. C 114, 1579715805 (2010).
21. Wei, H. X. et al. Thermal annealing-induced vertical phase separation of copper phthalocyanine:fullerene bulk heterojunction in organic photovoltaic cells. Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 083302 (2010).
22. Jouane, Y. et al. Annealing treatment for restoring and controlling the interface morphology of organic photovoltaic cells with interfacial sputtered ZnO films on P3HT:PCBM active layers. J. Mater. Chem. 22, 16061612 (2012).
23. Cheun, H. et al. Roles of thermally-induced vertical phase segregation and crystallization on the photovoltaic performance of bulk heterojunction inverted polymer solar cells. Energy Environ. Sci. 4, 34563460 (2011).
24. Karagiannidis, P. G., Georgiou, D., Pitsalidis, C., Laskarakis, A. & Logothetidis, S. Evolution of vertical phase separation in P3HT:PCBM thin films induced by thermal annealing. Mater. Chem. Phys. 129, 12071213 (2011).
25. 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. 14, 83138318 (2012).
26. Song, T., Wu, Z., Tu, Y., Jin, Y. & Sun, B. Vertical phase segregation of hybrid poly(3-hexylthiophene) and fullerene derivative composites controlled via velocity of solvent drying. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 26, 034009-1034009-7 (2011).
27. Ruderer, M. A. et al. Solvent-induced morphology in polymer-based systems for organic photovoltaics. Adv. Funct. Mater. 21, 33823391 (2011).
28. Susarova, D. K., Troshin, P. A., Moskvin, Y. L., Babenko, S. D. & Razumov, V. F. Vertical concentration gradients in bulk herterojunction solar cells induced by differential material solubility. Thin Solid Films 519, 41324135 (2011).
29. Anselmo, A. S. et al. Tuning the vertical phase separation in polyfluorene:fullerene blend films by polymer functionalization. Chem. Mater. 23, 22952302 (2011).
30. Li, H. et al. Solvent-soaking treatment induced morphology evolution in P3HT/ PCBM composite films. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 65636568 (2011).
31. Yuan, D. et al. The improvement of bulk-heterojunction order in polymer photovoltaic device. Spectrosc. Spect. Anal. 31, 31753179 (2011).
32. Chien, S.-C., Chen, F.-C., Chung, M.-K. & Hsu, C.-S. Self-assembled poly(ethylene glycol) buffer layers in polymer solar cells: toward superior stability and efficiency. J. Phys. Chem. C 116, 13541360 (2012).
33. Liu, Z. et al. High-efficiency hybrid solar cells based on polymer/PbSxSe12x nanocrystals benefiting from vertical phase segregation. Adv. Mater. 25, 57725778 (2013).
34. Broer, D. J., Lub, J. & Mol, G. N. Wide-band reflective polarizers from cholesteric polymer networks with a pitch gradient. Nature 378, 467469 (1995).
35. Hikmet, R. A. M. & Kemperman, H. Electrically switchable mirrors and optical components made from liquid-crystal gels. Nature 392, 476479 (1998).
36. Broer, D. J., Mol, G. N., van Haaren, J. A. M. M. & Lub, J. Photo-induced diffusion in polymerizing chiral-nematic media. Adv. Mater. 11, 573578 (1999).
37. Zhang, L. et al.Highly efficient polymer solar cells by using the homogeneous selfassembly of a sulphydryl-capped photoactive polymer covalently bound to the anode. Energy Tech. 1, 613616 (2013).
38. Lee, J. U., Kim, Y. D., Jo, J. W., Kim, J. P. & Jo, W. H. Efficiency enhancement of P3HT/PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells by attaching zinc phthalocyanine to the chain-end of P3HT. J. Mater. Chem. 21, 1720917218 (2011).
39. Mihailetchi, V. D., Wildeman, J. & Blom, P. W. M. Space-charge limited photocurrent. Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 126602 (2005).
40. Blom, P.W.M., Mihailetchi, V. D., Koster, L. J. A. & Markov, D. E. Device physics of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells. Adv. Mater. 19, 15511566 (2007).
41. Peet, J. et al. Efficiency enhancement in low-bandgap polymer solar cells by processing with alkane dithiols. Nat. Mater. 6, 497500 (2007).
42. Mihailetchi, V. D., Koster, L. J. A., Hummelen, J. C. & Blom, P. W. M. Photocurrent generation in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunctions. Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 216601 (2004).
43. Lenes, M., Morana, M., Brabec, C. J. & Blom, P. W. M. Recombination-limited photocurrents in low bandgap polymer/fullerene solar cells. Adv. Funct. Mater. 19, 11061111 (2009).
44. Venkatesan, S. et al. Interplay of nanoscale domain purity and size on charge transport and recombination dynamics in polymer solar cells. Nanoscale 6, 10111019 (2014).
45. Wei, Q., Tajima, K., Tong, Y., Ye, S. & Hashimoto, K. Surface-segregated monolayers: a new type of ordered monolayer for surface modification of organic semiconductors. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 131, 1759717604 (2009).
46. Zhou, Y. et al. A universal method to produce low-work function electrodes for organic electronics. Science 336, 327332 (2012).