skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends

Abstract

The photobleaching dynamics of a series of three organic photovoltaic (OPV) donor polymers and five different fullerenes are presented. The fullerenes studied include PC60BM and four perfluoroalkylfullerenes with relatively large electron affinities, namely C60(CF3)2, C60(i-C3F7)2, C60(CF3)4, and C60(CF3)8. The donor polymers were all based on cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) and thienopyrrolodione (TPD), but the TPD side chains were designed to include alkyl, partially fluorinated alkyl, and fluorinated phenyl groups to improve miscibility of the active layer components. Exciton harvesting was probed with photoluminescence quenching measurements. Accelerated photodegradation studies of polymer:fullerene blends were then carried out under white light illumination at ~1.2 suns in air. A strong correlation was observed between the polymer donor photobleaching rate and the electron affinity of the fullerene. The most dramatic effect was observed for a blend of C60(CF3)8 with the donor containing fluorinated phenyl groups: the blend required 150 times the dosing of photons to bleach to 80% of its initial optical density than an analagous blend of PC60BM and non-fluorinated donor polymer. Furthermore, these results ultimately suggest that appropriate fluorination strategies applied to both the donor and acceptor can be a viable route toward a new paradigm of intrinsically photo- and phase-stable OPV active layers.

Authors:
 [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [3];  [3];  [1]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1468736
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1703027
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-71422
Journal ID: ISSN 1566-1199
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Organic Electronics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 62; Journal ID: ISSN 1566-1199
Publisher:
Elsevier
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; organic photovoltaics; photodegradation; photostability; photoluminescence quenching; perfluoroalkylated fullerenes

Citation Formats

Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila, Ferguson, Andrew J., Pfeilsticker, Jason R., Larson, Bryon W., Garner, Logan E., Brook, Colin P., Strauss, Steven H., Boltalina, Olga V., Ramamurthy, Praveen C., and Braunecker, Wade A. Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045.
Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila, Ferguson, Andrew J., Pfeilsticker, Jason R., Larson, Bryon W., Garner, Logan E., Brook, Colin P., Strauss, Steven H., Boltalina, Olga V., Ramamurthy, Praveen C., & Braunecker, Wade A. Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045
Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila, Ferguson, Andrew J., Pfeilsticker, Jason R., Larson, Bryon W., Garner, Logan E., Brook, Colin P., Strauss, Steven H., Boltalina, Olga V., Ramamurthy, Praveen C., and Braunecker, Wade A. 2018. "Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1468736.
@article{osti_1468736,
title = {Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends},
author = {Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila and Ferguson, Andrew J. and Pfeilsticker, Jason R. and Larson, Bryon W. and Garner, Logan E. and Brook, Colin P. and Strauss, Steven H. and Boltalina, Olga V. and Ramamurthy, Praveen C. and Braunecker, Wade A.},
abstractNote = {The photobleaching dynamics of a series of three organic photovoltaic (OPV) donor polymers and five different fullerenes are presented. The fullerenes studied include PC60BM and four perfluoroalkylfullerenes with relatively large electron affinities, namely C60(CF3)2, C60(i-C3F7)2, C60(CF3)4, and C60(CF3)8. The donor polymers were all based on cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) and thienopyrrolodione (TPD), but the TPD side chains were designed to include alkyl, partially fluorinated alkyl, and fluorinated phenyl groups to improve miscibility of the active layer components. Exciton harvesting was probed with photoluminescence quenching measurements. Accelerated photodegradation studies of polymer:fullerene blends were then carried out under white light illumination at ~1.2 suns in air. A strong correlation was observed between the polymer donor photobleaching rate and the electron affinity of the fullerene. The most dramatic effect was observed for a blend of C60(CF3)8 with the donor containing fluorinated phenyl groups: the blend required 150 times the dosing of photons to bleach to 80% of its initial optical density than an analagous blend of PC60BM and non-fluorinated donor polymer. Furthermore, these results ultimately suggest that appropriate fluorination strategies applied to both the donor and acceptor can be a viable route toward a new paradigm of intrinsically photo- and phase-stable OPV active layers.},
doi = {10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1468736}, journal = {Organic Electronics},
issn = {1566-1199},
number = ,
volume = 62,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}

Journal Article:

Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 4 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Works referenced in this record:

Recent advances in high performance donor-acceptor polymers for organic photovoltaics
journal, July 2017


A Wide Band Gap Polymer with a Deep Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital Level Enables 14.2% Efficiency in Polymer Solar Cells
journal, May 2018


Printed metal back electrodes for R2R fabricated polymer solar cells studied using the LBIC technique
journal, May 2011


Upscaling of polymer solar cell fabrication using full roll-to-roll processing
journal, January 2010


Stability of Polymer Solar Cells
journal, December 2011


Degradation and stability of polymer-based solar cells
journal, January 2012


Photooxidative degradation mechanism of model compounds of poly(p-phenylenevinylenes) [PPVs]
journal, December 2002


The mechanism of photo- and thermooxidation of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) reconsidered
journal, June 2009


The Role of Electron Affinity in Determining Whether Fullerenes Catalyze or Inhibit Photooxidation of Polymers for Solar Cells
journal, May 2012


Photobleaching dynamics in small molecule vs.  polymer organic photovoltaic blends with 1,7-bis-trifluoromethylfullerene
journal, January 2018


A faux hawk fullerene with PCBM-like properties
journal, January 2015


Electrochemical, Spectroscopic, and DFT Study of C 60 (CF 3 ) n Frontier Orbitals ( n = 2−18):  The Link between Double Bonds in Pentagons and Reduction Potentials
journal, September 2007


Perfluoroalkylfullerenes
journal, August 2014


The role of solvent vapor annealing in highly efficient air-processed small molecule solar cells
journal, January 2014


Sequentially Different AB Diblock and ABA Triblock Copolymers as P3HT:PCBM Interfacial Compatibilizers for Bulk-Heterojunction Photovoltaics
journal, February 2016


Cyclopenta[c]thiophene-4,6-dione-Based Copolymers as Organic Photovoltaic Donor Materials
journal, April 2014


Synthetic Control of Structural Order in N-Alkylthieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione-Based Polymers for Efficient Solar Cells
journal, June 2010

  • Piliego, Claudia; Holcombe, Thomas W.; Douglas, Jessica D.
  • Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 132, Issue 22, p. 7595-7597
  • https://doi.org/10.1021/ja103275u

Electron Affinity of Phenyl–C 61 –Butyric Acid Methyl Ester (PCBM)
journal, July 2013


Role of the Side Chain in the Phase Segregation of Polymer:Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Composites
journal, July 2013


Removal of Residual Diiodooctane Improves Photostability of High-Performance Organic Solar Cell Polymers
journal, January 2016


Correlating triplet yield, singlet oxygen generation and photochemical stability in polymer/fullerene blend films
journal, January 2013


Materials and methods for encapsulation of OPV: A review
journal, November 2013


Determining the optimum morphology in high-performance polymer-fullerene organic photovoltaic cells
journal, December 2013


Photoinduced Carrier Generation and Decay Dynamics in Intercalated and Non-intercalated Polymer:Fullerene Bulk Heterojunctions
journal, June 2011


Controlling Exciton Diffusion and Fullerene Distribution in Photovoltaic Blends by Side Chain Modification
journal, July 2015


Contactless Determination of the Photoconductivity Action Spectrum, Exciton Diffusion Length, and Charge Separation Efficiency in Polythiophene-Sensitized TiO 2 Bilayers
journal, August 2003


Semi-random vs Well-Defined Alternating Donor–Acceptor Copolymers
journal, June 2014


Dark Carriers, Trapping, and Activation Control of Carrier Recombination in Neat P3HT and P3HT:PCBM Blends
journal, October 2011


Molecular engineering to improve carrier lifetimes for organic photovoltaic devices with thick active layers
journal, August 2017


A Versatile Approach to Organic Photovoltaics Evaluation Using White Light Pulse and Microwave Conductivity
journal, November 2012


Revealing the Dynamics of Charge Carriers in Polymer:Fullerene Blends Using Photoinduced Time-Resolved Microwave Conductivity
journal, October 2013


Quenching of Excitons by Holes in Poly(3-hexylthiophene) Films
journal, May 2008


Pressure effect on heterogeneous trifluoromethylation of fullerenes and its application
journal, October 2011


Chemical tailoring of fullerene acceptors: synthesis, structures and electrochemical properties of perfluoroisopropylfullerenes
journal, January 2011


Works referencing / citing this record:

Fluorous Fullerene Acceptors in Vacuum‐Deposited Photovoltaic Cells
journal, May 2019


Stability of push–pull small molecule donors for organic photovoltaics: spectroscopic degradation of acceptor endcaps on benzo[1,2- b :4,5- b ′]dithiophene cores
journal, January 2019