Effect of solvent additives on bulk heterojunction morphology of organic photovoltaics and their impact on device performance |
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| Authors: | Won Tae Choi Jiyun Song Jongkuk Ko Yeongseon Jang Tae-Hwan Kim Young-Soo Han Jeewoo Lim Changhee Lee Kookheon Char |
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| Institution: | 1. The National Creative Research Initiative Center for Intelligent Hybrids, The WCU Program of Chemical Convergence for Energy and Environment, School of Chemical and Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-744 Korea;2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Inter-University Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, 151-744 Korea;3. HANARO Center, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, 305-353 Korea |
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| Abstract: | Morphology of the active layer in an organic photovoltaic (OPV) device is known to have a significant impact on the device performance. It is, however, difficult to characterize nanoscale morphologies in detail, especially at the ensemble level. Herein, we report the utilization of small angle neutron scattering (SANS) to investigate variations in the nanoscale morphologies of the active layer of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl):6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) bulk heterojunction OPV depending on the composition of casting solvent. Both the power law and the poly hard sphere model were utilized to characterize the state of the donor and acceptor components, respectively, from the obtained SANS data. Furthermore, the relationship between the nanoscale morphology and device performance is outlined. It was found that the use of 2-chlorophenol, a poor solvent for P3HT and, at the same time, a very good solvent for PCBM, leads to nanomorphology featuring ordered, highly crystalline P3HT and small (15.2 nm) PCBM domains. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2016, 54, 128–134 |
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| Keywords: | neutron scattering additives conducting polymers Fullerenes interpenetrating networks (IPN) small angle neutron scattering (SANS) P3HT:PCBM |
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