Ptychography of Organic Thin Films at Soft X-ray Energies

Savikhin, Victoria; Shapiro, David A.; Gu, Xiaodan; Oosterhout, Stefan D.; Toney, Michael F.

doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b01690

Ptychography of Organic Thin Films at Soft X-ray Energies

Journal Article · Mon Jun 10 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Chemistry of Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.9b01690· OSTI ID:1546800

Savikhin, Victoria ^[1]; Shapiro, David A. ^[2]; ^[3]; ^[3]; ^[3]

SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL); Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Electrical Engineering
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)

Organic photovoltaics (OPV) are a sustainable and inexpensive source of energy comprised of a mixture of an electron-donating and an electron-accepting material (often a polymer and fullerene derivative, respectively) to create a bulk heterojunction (BHJ). However, these devices are held back by low efficiencies. Improving the efficiency in a systematic way requires a comprehensive understanding of the device function and microstructure, but directly imaging the subsurface active layer structure is challenging. Here we demonstrate that ptychography may be used to image the OPV active layer with good film stability and materials contrast in both polymer:fullerene and all-polymer BHJ films. This is possible using soft X-ray ptychography available at the Advanced Light Source beamline 5.3.2.1. We achieve a resolution of 30–50 nm with no discernible radiation damage and discuss the potential for further improvements. This characterization technique could complement widely used electron microscopy and soft X-ray scattering.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Univ. of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; SC0019361; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1546800

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1774738
OSTI ID: 1656523
OSTI ID: 1599388
OSTI ID: 1985428

Journal Information:: Chemistry of Materials, Journal Name: Chemistry of Materials Journal Issue: 13 Vol. 31; ISSN 0897-4756

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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