Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films

Ambuken, Preejith V.; Stretz, Holly A.; Dadmun, Mark; Michael Kilbey, S.

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024

Title: Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films

Full Record
Other Related Research

Abstract

A spin-coating solution comprising poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) nanoparticles used to create organic photovoltaic (OPV) active layers have been shown to adopt a non-uniform concentration profile across the thin film dimension. This inhomogeneous distribution can reduce the efficiency of the device. For our new process, gas expanded polymer (GXP) annealing, is applied to P3HT/PCBM thin film blends, enabling the distribution of the PCBM nanoparticles to be manipulated by varying the GXP processing conditions. Films of 50 nm thickness (nominally) created by spin casting a blend of P3HT mixed with PCBM were annealed by oscillatory GXP and GXP at constant pressure using high pressure CO₂. An increase in P3HT crystallinity (detected by X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy) along with a more uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles in the thickness dimension, as interpreted from neutron reflectivity measurements, were observed after oscillatory GXP annealing. In addition, static water contact angles suggest that the film/air interface is enriched in PCBM relative to the as-cast film. Finally, these results demonstrate that GXP annealing, which is commercially scalable, can be successfully used to create a uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles across the thickness dimension in a P3HT thin film.

Authors:

Ambuken, Preejith V. ^[1]; Stretz, Holly A. ^[1]; Dadmun, Mark ^[2]; Michael Kilbey, S. ^[3]

Tennessee Technological Univ., Cookeville, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)

Publication Date:: Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015

Research Org.:: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)

OSTI Identifier:: 1287009

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1250294

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725; EPS-1004083

Resource Type:: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:: Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Volume: 140; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0927-0248

Publisher:: Elsevier

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

Subject:: 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; P3HT; PCBM; Anneal; Organophotovoltaic; Dispersion; CO2; SIZE-SELECTIVE FRACTIONATION; SOLAR-CELLS; ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS; SUPERCRITICAL FLUIDS; CARBON-DIOXIDE; MORPHOLOGY; EFFICIENCY; SOLVENT; LIQUIDS; BLENDS

Citation Formats


                    Ambuken, Preejith V., Stretz, Holly A., Dadmun, Mark, and Michael Kilbey, S. Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films.  United States: N. p., 2015. 
Web.  doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024.

Copy to clipboard


                    Ambuken, Preejith V., Stretz, Holly A., Dadmun, Mark, & Michael Kilbey, S. Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films.  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024

Copy to clipboard


                    Ambuken, Preejith V., Stretz, Holly A., Dadmun, Mark, and Michael Kilbey, S. Tue .  
"Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films".  United States.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024.  https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1287009.

Copy to clipboard


                    
@article{osti_1287009,

  title        = {Gas expanded polymer process to anneal nanoparticle dispersion in thin films},

  author       = {Ambuken, Preejith V. and Stretz, Holly A. and Dadmun, Mark and Michael Kilbey, S.},

  abstractNote = {A spin-coating solution comprising poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) nanoparticles used to create organic photovoltaic (OPV) active layers have been shown to adopt a non-uniform concentration profile across the thin film dimension. This inhomogeneous distribution can reduce the efficiency of the device. For our new process, gas expanded polymer (GXP) annealing, is applied to P3HT/PCBM thin film blends, enabling the distribution of the PCBM nanoparticles to be manipulated by varying the GXP processing conditions. Films of 50 nm thickness (nominally) created by spin casting a blend of P3HT mixed with PCBM were annealed by oscillatory GXP and GXP at constant pressure using high pressure CO2. An increase in P3HT crystallinity (detected by X-ray diffraction and UV-vis spectroscopy) along with a more uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles in the thickness dimension, as interpreted from neutron reflectivity measurements, were observed after oscillatory GXP annealing. In addition, static water contact angles suggest that the film/air interface is enriched in PCBM relative to the as-cast film. Finally, these results demonstrate that GXP annealing, which is commercially scalable, can be successfully used to create a uniform distribution of PCBM nanoparticles across the thickness dimension in a P3HT thin film.},

  doi          = {10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024},

  journal      = {Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells},

  number       = C,

  volume       = 140,

  place        = {United States},

  year         = {Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015},

  month        = {Tue Apr 21 00:00:00 EDT 2015}

}

Copy to clipboard

Journal Article:

Free Publicly Available Full Text

Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Publisher's Version of Record

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2015.03.024

Other availability

Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal

Citation Metrics:

Cited by: 3 works

Citation information provided by
Web of Science

Save / Share:

Export Metadata

Save to My Library

Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections:

Quantifying the Effects of Interfacial Electric Fields and Local Crystallinity on Polymer-Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cell Performance

Journal Article Gearba, R I ; Black, C ; Mills, T ; ... - Advanced Functional Materials

The challenges of experimentally probing the physical and electronic structures of the highly intermixed organic semiconductor blends that comprise active layers in high-performance organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells ultimately limit the fundamental understanding of the device performance. We use Fourier-transform IR (FTIR)-absorption spectroscopy to quantitatively determine the interfacial electric field in blended poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):phenyl- C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) thin films. The interfacial electric field is {approx}0.2 V nm{sup -1} in the as-spun film and blends annealing at temperatures as high as 150 C, which is the optimal annealing temperature in terms of OPV performance. The field decreases to a negligiblemore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201100139
Ternary behavior and systematic nanoscale manipulation of domain structures in P3HT/PCBM/P3HT-b-PEO films

Journal Article Chen, Jihua ; Hong, Kunlun ; Messman, Jamie M. ; ... - Journal of Materials Chemistry

Nanophase separation plays a critical role in the performance of donor acceptor based organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Although post-fabrication annealing is often used to enhance OPV efficiency, the ability to exert precise control over phase separated domains and connectivity remains elusive. In this work, we use a diblock copolymer to systematically manipulate the domain sizes of an organic solar cell active layer at the nanoscale. More specifically, a poly(3-hexylthiophene)-bpoly( ethylene oxide) (P3HT-b-PEO) diblock copolymer with a low polydispersity index (PDI 1.3) is added to a binary blend of P3HT and 6,6-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) at different concentrations (0more »« less
https://doi.org/10.1039/c2jm31124k
Enhanced performance of P3HT/(PCBM:ZnO:TiO{sub 2}) blend based hybrid organic solar cells

Journal Article Ikram, M., E-mail: mianraj.1981@gmail.com ; Murray, R. ; Imran, M. ; ... - Materials Research Bulletin

Highlights: • We fabricated hybrid bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. • TiO{sub 2} and ZnO nanoparticles replace PCBM with fixed amount of P3HT in active layer • PCE was significantly improved by the introduction of TiO{sub 2} and ZnO. • A possible route toward low-cost OPV. • To the best of my knowledge, this work is the first time going to report. - Abstract: Quaternary blend hybrid organic solar cells enjoy both an increased light absorption range and an easy method to fabricate because of the simple structure. In this study effects of mixing inorganic metal oxides (ZnO and TiO{submore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1016/J.MATERRESBULL.2015.11.031
Photoinduced Charge Carrier Generation and Decay in Sequentially Deposited Polymer/Fullerene Layers: Bulk Heterojunction vs. Planar Interface

Journal Article Nardes, Alexandre ; Ayzner, Alexander ; Hammond, Scott ; ... - Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

In this work, we use the time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) technique to study the dynamics of charge carrier generation in sequentially deposited conjugated polymer/fullerene layers. These layers are either fully solution-processed, using orthogonal solvents for the layers of the polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and the fullerene phenyl-C{sup 61}-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM), or prepared by thermally evaporating a C{sup 60} layer onto P3HT films. Our work is motivated by the remarkable efficiency of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices using a sequentially processed P3HT/PCBM active layer. Here we use an electrodeless photoconductivity probe, so we can photoexcite the sample either through the polymermore »« less
https://doi.org/10.1021/jp212390p
Petascale Simulations of the Morphology and the Molecular Interface of Bulk Heterojunctions

Journal Article Carrillo, Jan-Michael Y. ; Seibers, Zach ; Kumar, Rajeev ; ... - ACS Nano

Understanding how additives interact and segregate within bulk heterojunction (BHJ) thin films is critical for exercising control over structure at multiple length scales and delivering improvements in photovoltaic performance. The morphological evolution of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) blends that are commensurate with the size of a BHJ thin film is examined using petascale coarse-grained molecular dynamics simulations. When comparing 2 component and 3 component systems containing short P3HT chains as additives undergoing thermal annealing we demonstrate that the short chains alter the morphol- ogy in apparently useful ways: They efficiently migrate to the P3HT/PCBM interface, increasingmore »« less
Cited by 25
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.6b03009

Full Text Available

Similar Records