Understanding the Impact of Oligomeric Polystyrene Side Chain Arrangement on the All‐Polymer Solar Cell Performance

Kurosawa, Tadanori; Gu, Xiaodan; Gu, Kevin L.; Zhou, Yan; Yan, Hongping; Wang, Cheng; Wang, Ging‐Ji Nathan; Toney, Michael F.; Bao, Zhenan

doi:10.1002/aenm.201701552

Understanding the Impact of Oligomeric Polystyrene Side Chain Arrangement on the All‐Polymer Solar Cell Performance

Journal Article · Thu Sep 14 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201701552· OSTI ID:1390389

^[1]; Gu, Xiaodan ^[2]; Gu, Kevin L. ^[2]; Zhou, Yan ^[1]; Yan, Hongping ^[3]; Wang, Cheng ^[4]; Wang, Ging‐Ji Nathan ^[1]; Toney, Michael F. ^[3]; ^[1]

Department of Chemical Engineering Stanford University Stanford CA 94305‐4125 USA
Department of Chemical Engineering Stanford University Stanford CA 94305‐4125 USA, Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Menlo Park CA 94025 USA
Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Menlo Park CA 94025 USA
Advanced Light Source Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Berkeley CA 94720 USA

Abstract

The introduction of oligomeric polystyrene (PS) side chains into the conjugated backbone is proven to enhance the processability and electronic properties of semiconducting polymers. Here, two series of donor and acceptor polymers are prepared with different molar percentages of PS side chains to elucidate the effect of their substitution arrangement on the all‐polymer solar cell performance. The observed device performance is lower when the PS side chains are substituted on the donor polymer and higher when on the acceptor polymer, indicating a clear arrangement effect of the PS side chain. The incorporation of PS side chains to the acceptor polymer contributes to the decrease in phase separation domain size in the blend films. However, the reduced domain size was still an order of magnitude larger than the typical exciton diffusion length. A detailed morphological study together with the estimation of solubility parameter of the pristine PS, donor, and acceptor polymers reveals that the relative value of solubility parameter of each component dominantly contributes to the purity of the phase separated domain, which strongly impacts the amount of generated photocurrent and overall solar cell performance. This study provides an understanding of the design strategies to improve the all‐polymer solar cells.

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1390389

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 2 Vol. 8; ISSN 1614-6832

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

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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