Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films
- Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
A spin-coating solution comprising poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) nanoparticles used to create organic photovoltaic (OPV) active layers have been shown to adopt a non-uniform concentration profile across the thin film dimension. This inhomogeneous distribution can reduce the efficiency of the device. For our new process, gas expanded polymer (GXP) annealing, is applied to P3HT/PCBM thin film blends, enabling the distribution of the PCBM nanoparticles to be manipulated by varying the GXP processing conditions. Films of 50 nm thickness (nominally) created by spin casting a blend of P3HT mixed with PCBM were annealed by oscillatory GXP and GXP at constant pressure using high pressure CO2. An increase in P3HT crystallinity (detected by X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy) along with a more uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles in the thickness dimension, as interpreted from neutron reflectivity measurements, were observed after oscillatory GXP annealing. In addition, static water contact angles suggest that the film/air interface is enriched in PCBM relative to the as-cast film. Finally, these results demonstrate that GXP annealing, which is commercially scalable, can be successfully used to create a uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles across the thickness dimension in a P3HT thin film.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; EPS-1004083
- OSTI ID:
- 1287009
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1250294
- Journal Information:
- Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 140, Issue C; ISSN 0927-0248
- Publisher:
- ElsevierCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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