Three-Dimensional Morphology Control Yielding Enhanced Hole Mobility in Air-Processed Organic Photovoltaics: Demonstration with Grazing-Incidence Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering

Moore, Levi M.  J.; Bhattacharya, Mithun; Wu, Qi; Youm, Sang Gil; Nesterov, Evgueni E.; Morgan, Sarah E.

doi:10.1021/acsami.7b04218

Title: Three-Dimensional Morphology Control Yielding Enhanced Hole Mobility in Air-Processed Organic Photovoltaics: Demonstration with Grazing-Incidence Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering

Journal Article · Wed Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.7b04218· OSTI ID:1372248

Moore, Levi M. J. ^[1]; Bhattacharya, Mithun ^[1]; Wu, Qi ^[1]; Youm, Sang Gil ^[2];

^[2];

^[1]

Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MI (United States)
Louisiana State Univ., Baton Rouge, LA (United States)

Polymer organic photovoltaic (OPV) device performance is defined by the three-dimensional morphology of the phase-separated domains in the active layer. In this work, we determine the evolution of morphology through different stages of tailored solvent vapor and thermal annealing techniques in air-processed poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl)/phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester-based OPV blends. A comparative evaluation of the effect of solvent type used for vapor annealing was performed using grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering, atomic force microscopy, and UV–vis spectroscopy to probe the active-layer morphology. A nonhalogenated orthogonal solvent was found to impart controlled morphological features within the exciton diffusion length scales, enhanced absorbance, greater crystallinity, increased paracrystalline disorder, and improved charge-carrier mobility. Low-boiling, fast-diffusing isopropanol allowed the greatest control over the nanoscale structure of the solvents evaluated and yielded a cocontinuous morphology with narrowed domains and enhanced paths for the charge carrier to reach the anode.

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