Morphology of a Ternary Blend Solar Cell Based on Small Molecule:Conjugated Polymer:Fullerene Fabricated by Blade Coating

Wu, Xiaomin; Lan, Shuqiong; Zhang, Guocheng; Chen, Qizhen; Chen, Huipeng; Guo, Tailiang

doi:10.1002/adfm.201703268

Morphology of a Ternary Blend Solar Cell Based on Small Molecule:Conjugated Polymer:Fullerene Fabricated by Blade Coating

Journal Article · Wed Sep 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Advanced Functional Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201703268· OSTI ID:1378793

Wu, Xiaomin ^[1]; Lan, Shuqiong ^[1]; Zhang, Guocheng ^[2]; Chen, Qizhen ^[1]; ^[1]; Guo, Tailiang ^[1]

Institute of Optoelectronic Display National &, Local United Engineering Lab of Flat Panel Display Technology Fuzhou University Fuzhou 350002 China
Institute of Optoelectronic Display National &, Local United Engineering Lab of Flat Panel Display Technology Fuzhou University Fuzhou 350002 China, College of Information Science and Engineering Fujian University of Technology Fuzhou 350108 China

Abstract

Here, conjugated polymer is added as third component to tune the solution viscosity, morphology, and function of small molecule (SM) based bulk‐heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells, which are fabricated using blade coating. Novel information about the effect of blade coating speed on the nanoscale morphology and function of ternary blend solar cells is provided. The crystal sizes increase with an increase of coating speed for both binary and ternary blends, while the addition of the third component tends to favor smaller SM crystal grains and improves the connectivity of SM crystals. Small angle neutron scattering experiments provide the first clear experimental evidence that the addition of the third component would significantly impact the fullerene phase separation, which is crucial for bimolecular recombination and charge transport. It shows that for both binary and ternary blends, the concentration and sizes of [6,6]‐phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) aggregates increase with an increase of coating speed, while addition of third component does not affect the volume fraction of PCBM aggregates but impacts the size of PCBM aggregates. It is demonstrated that the judicious selection of blade coating speed and addition of conjugated polymer optimize the morphology of SM‐BHJ, providing guidelines for high performance SM‐BHJs from roll‐to‐roll production.

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

OSTI ID:: 1378793

Journal Information:: Advanced Functional Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Functional Materials Journal Issue: 40 Vol. 27; ISSN 1616-301X

Publisher:: Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

References (39)

Precise Structural Development and its Correlation to Function in Conjugated Polymer: Fullerene Thin Films by Controlled Solvent Annealing Chen, Huipeng; Hu, Sheng; Zang, Huidong Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201202035	journal	October 2012
The Role of Fullerene Mixing Behavior in the Performance of Organic Photovoltaics: PCBM in Low-Bandgap Polymers Chen, Huipeng; Peet, Jeff; Hu, Sheng Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201300862	journal	September 2013
Solar Cells: Film Morphology of High Efficiency Solution-Processed Small-Molecule Solar Cells (Adv. Funct. Mater. 40/2013) Love, John A.; Proctor, Christopher M.; Liu, Jianhua Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201370202	journal	October 2013
Tuning the Morphology and Performance of Low Bandgap Polymer:Fullerene Heterojunctions via Solvent Annealing in Selective Solvents Chen, Huipeng; Hsiao, Yu-Che; Hu, Bin Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201400552	journal	May 2014
Distinguishing the Importance of Fullerene Phase Separation from Polymer Ordering in the Performance of Low Band Gap Polymer:Bis-Fullerene Heterojunctions Chen, Huipeng; Hsiao, Yu-Che; Chen, Jihua Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 46 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201401419	journal	September 2014
Non-Basic High-Performance Molecules for Solution-Processed Organic Solar Cells van der Poll, Thomas S.; Love, John A.; Nguyen, Thuc-Quyen Advanced Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 27 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201201127	journal	June 2012
High-Molecular-Weight Insulating Polymers Can Improve the Performance of Molecular Solar Cells Huang, Ye; Wen, Wen; Mukherjee, Subhrangsu Advanced Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201400497	journal	April 2014
Ternary Organic Solar Cells Based on Two Compatible Nonfullerene Acceptors with Power Conversion Efficiency >10% Liu, Tao; Guo, Yuan; Yi, Yuanping Advanced Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 45 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201602570	journal	September 2016
Nanocarbon for Oxygen Reduction Electrocatalysis: Dopants, Edges, and Defects Tang, Cheng; Zhang, Qiang Advanced Materials, Vol. 29, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201604103	journal	January 2017
Enhanced Efficiency Parameters of Solution-Processable Small-Molecule Solar Cells Depending on ITO Sheet Resistance Wang, Dong Hwan; Kyaw, Aung Ko Ko; Gupta, Vinay Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201300277	journal	May 2013
Synergistic Impact of Solvent and Polymer Additives on the Film Formation of Small Molecule Blend Films for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells McDowell, Caitlin; Abdelsamie, Maged; Zhao, Kui Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 5, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201501121	journal	July 2015
Optimized “Alloy-Parallel” Morphology of Ternary Organic Solar Cells Wang, Zaiyu; Zhang, Yajie; Zhang, Jianqi Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 6, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201502456	journal	February 2016
Large-area organic solar cells by accelerated blade coating Tsai, Pei-Ting; Yu, Kai-Chieh; Chang, Chia-Ju Organic Electronics, Vol. 22 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2015.03.001	journal	July 2015
Roll-to-roll fabrication of monolithic large-area polymer solar cells free from indium-tin-oxide Krebs, Frederik C. Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, Vol. 93, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2009.04.020	journal	September 2009
Understanding Morphology Compatibility for High-Performance Ternary Organic Solar Cells Mai, Jiangquan; Lau, Tsz-Ki; Li, Jun Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b02264	journal	August 2016
High Performance Organic Solar Cells Processed by Blade Coating in Air from a Benign Food Additive Solution Ye, Long; Xiong, Yuan; Yao, Huifeng Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 28, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03083	journal	October 2016
Impact of Fullerene Structure on Nanoscale Morphology and Miscibility and Correlation of Performance on Small Molecules: Fullerene Solar Cell Lan, Shuqiong; Yang, Huihuang; Zhang, Guocheng The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 120, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.6b08025	journal	September 2016
Modeling Flow Coating of Colloidal Dispersions in the Evaporative Regime: Prediction of Deposit Thickness Doumenc, Frédéric; Salmon, Jean-Baptiste; Guerrier, Béatrice Langmuir, Vol. 32, Issue 51 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.6b02282	journal	December 2016
Ternary Blend Composed of Two Organic Donors and One Acceptor for Active Layer of High-Performance Organic Solar Cells Lee, Jong Won; Choi, Yoon Suk; Ahn, Hyungju ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b12717	journal	April 2016
An Obvious Improvement in the Performance of Ternary Organic Solar Cells with “Guest” Donor Present at the “Host” Donor/Acceptor Interface Bi, Peng-Qing; Wu, Bo; Zheng, Fei ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 35 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b07612	journal	August 2016
Improving the Compatibility of Donor Polymers in Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells via Post-Additive Soaking Treatment Yang, Xiaoyu; Zheng, Fei; Xu, Weilong ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b11063	journal	December 2016
1,3-Bis(thieno[3,4- b ]thiophen-6-yl)-4 H -thieno[3,4- c ]pyrrole-4,6(5 H )-dione-Based Small-Molecule Donor for Efficient Solution-Processed Solar Cells Zhang, Zhongbo; Zhou, Zichun; Hu, Qin ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b14572	journal	February 2017
Effect of Annealing on Exciton Diffusion in a High Performance Small Molecule Organic Photovoltaic Material Long, Yun; Hedley, Gordon J.; Ruseckas, Arvydas ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.6b16487	journal	April 2017
Small Molecule Solution-Processed Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells ^† Walker, Bright; Kim, Chunki; Nguyen, Thuc-Quyen Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/cm102189g	journal	February 2011
The Impact of Fullerene Structure on Its Miscibility with P3HT and Its Correlation of Performance in Organic Photovoltaics Chen, Huipeng; Peet, Jeff; Hsiao, Yu-Che Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 26, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1021/cm5015898	journal	June 2014
Design Rules for Organic Donor–Acceptor Heterojunctions: Pathway for Charge Splitting and Detrapping Poelking, Carl; Andrienko, Denis Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b02130	journal	May 2015
Conjugated Polymer–Small Molecule Alloy Leads to High Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells Zhang, Jianqi; Zhang, Yajie; Fang, Jin Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b03449	journal	June 2015
Creating Controlled Thickness Gradients in Polymer Thin Films via Flowcoating Davis, Raleigh L.; Jayaraman, Sahana; Chaikin, Paul M. Langmuir, Vol. 30, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1021/la501247x	journal	May 2014
Continuous Convective Assembling of Fine Particles into Two-Dimensional Arrays on Solid Surfaces Dimitrov, Antony S.; Nagayama, Kuniaki Langmuir, Vol. 12, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/la9502251	journal	January 1996
Hierarchical Nanomorphologies Promote Exciton Dissociation in Polymer/Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Chen, Wei; Xu, Tao; He, Feng Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 9, p. 3707-3713 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl201715q	journal	September 2011
Fluorination-enabled optimal morphology leads to over 11% efficiency for inverted small-molecule organic solar cells Deng, Dan; Zhang, Yajie; Zhang, Jianqi Nature Communications, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13740	journal	December 2016
Solution-processed small-molecule solar cells with 6.7% efficiency Sun, Yanming; Welch, Gregory C.; Leong, Wei Lin Nature Materials, Vol. 11, Issue 1, p. 44-48 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3160	journal	November 2011
Ternary blend polymer solar cells with enhanced power conversion efficiency Lu, Luyao; Xu, Tao; Chen, Wei Nature Photonics, Vol. 8, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.172	journal	August 2014
Nanoparticle concentration profile in polymer-based solar cells Kiel, Jonathan W.; Kirby, Brian J.; Majkrzak, Charles F. Soft Matter, Vol. 6, Issue 3, p. 641-646 https://doi.org/10.1039/B920979D	journal	January 2010
Guided crystallization of P3HT in ternary blend solar cell based on P3HT:PCPDTBT:PCBM Gu, Yu; Wang, Cheng; Liu, Feng Energy Environ. Sci., Vol. 7, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4EE02004A	journal	January 2014
Versatile third components for efficient and stable organic solar cells Cheng, Pei; Zhan, Xiaowei Materials Horizons, Vol. 2, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5MH00090D	journal	January 2015
Upscaling of polymer solar cell fabrication using full roll-to-roll processing Krebs, Frederik C.; Tromholt, Thomas; Jørgensen, Mikkel Nanoscale, Vol. 2, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1039/b9nr00430k	journal	January 2010
Numerical Flow Simulation of Viscoplastic Slurries and Design Criteria for a Tape Casting Unit Loest, Hagen; Lipp, Roland; Mitsoulis, Evan Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol. 77, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1151-2916.1994.tb06986.x	journal	January 1994
Über die Kinetik der Kettenpolymerisationen. V. Schulz, G. V. Zeitschrift für Physikalische Chemie, Vol. 43B, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1515/zpch-1939-4304	journal	May 1939

Similar Records

Recent progress in the morphology of bulk heterojunction photovoltaics

Journal Article · Thu Oct 06 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Soft Matter · OSTI ID:1065765

Enhanced performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells upon graphene addition

Journal Article · Mon Aug 25 00:00:00 EDT 2014 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:22310981

Achieving Balanced Crystallinity of Donor and Acceptor by Combining Blade‐Coating and Ternary Strategies in Organic Solar Cells

Journal Article · Sun Oct 14 20:00:00 EDT 2018 · Advanced Materials · OSTI ID:1479534

Morphology of a Ternary Blend Solar Cell Based on Small Molecule:Conjugated Polymer:Fullerene Fabricated by Blade Coating

Citation Formats

References (39)

Similar Records

Related Subjects