Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics

Holmes, Natalie P.; Marks, Melissa; Kumar, Pankaj; Kroon, Renee; Barr, Matthew G.; Nicolaidis, Nicolas; Feron, Krishna; Pivrikas, Almantas; Fahy, Adam; Mendaza, Amaia Diaz de Zerio; Kilcoyne, A. L. David; Müller, Christian; Zhou, Xiaojing; Andersson, Mats R.; Dastoor, Paul C.; Belcher, Warwick J.

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021

Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics

Journal Article · Thu Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Nano Energy

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021· OSTI ID:1393009

Holmes, Natalie P. ^[1]; Marks, Melissa ^[1]; Kumar, Pankaj ^[2]; Kroon, Renee ^[3]; Barr, Matthew G. ^[1]; Nicolaidis, Nicolas ^[1]; Feron, Krishna ^[4]; Pivrikas, Almantas ^[5]; Fahy, Adam ^[1]; Mendaza, Amaia Diaz de Zerio ^[6]; Kilcoyne, A. L. David ^[7]; Müller, Christian ^[6]; Zhou, Xiaojing ^[1]; Andersson, Mats R. ^[8]; Dastoor, Paul C. ^[1]; Belcher, Warwick J. ^[1]

Univ. of Newcastle, NSW (Australia)
Univ. of Newcastle, NSW (Australia); CSIR-National Physical Lab., New Delhi (India)
Univ. of South Australia, Adelaide, SA (Australia)
Univ. of Newcastle, NSW (Australia); CSIRO Energy Flagship, Newcastle, NSW (Australia)
Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia); Murdoch Univ., Perth, WA (Australia)
Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Gothenburg (Sweden)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Univ. of South Australia, Adelaide, SA (Australia); Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Gothenburg (Sweden)

In this paper, we report the application of a conjugated copolymer based on thiophene and quinoxaline units, namely poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1), to nanoparticle organic photovoltaics (NP-OPVs). TQ1 exhibits more desirable material properties for NP-OPV fabrication and operation, particularly a high glass transition temperature (T_g) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC₇₁BM (phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the T_g (sub-T_g and post-T_g), both in the active layer drying stage and post-cathode deposition annealing stage of device fabrication, and an in-depth study of the effect of these treatments on nanoparticle film morphology. Finally and in addition, we report a type of morphological evolution in nanoparticle films for OPV active layers that has not previously been observed, that of PC₇₁BM nano-pathway formation between dispersed PC₇₁BM-rich nanoparticle cores, which have the benefit of making the bulk film more conducive to charge percolation and extraction.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) (Australia); Australian Research Council (ARC); Commonwealth of Australia; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1393009

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1461032
OSTI ID: 22942768

Journal Information:: Nano Energy, Journal Name: Nano Energy Vol. 19; ISSN 2211-2855

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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