Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics
Abstract
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 (Tg) 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 Tg (sub-Tg and post-Tg), 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.
- Authors:
-
- 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)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) (Australia); Commonwealth of Australia; Australian Research Council (ARC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1393009
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1461032
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC02-05CH11231; ARC DECRA DE120102271; UQ ECR59-2011002311; UQ NSRSF-2011002734
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Nano Energy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 19; Journal ID: ISSN 2211-2855
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; Water processable solar cells; Nanoparticle; Organic photovoltaic; Blend morphology; Glass transition temperature; Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy
Citation Formats
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., and Belcher, Warwick J. Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics. United States: N. p., 2015.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021.
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. Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021
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., and Belcher, Warwick J. Thu .
"Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1393009.
@article{osti_1393009,
title = {Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics},
author = {Holmes, Natalie P. and Marks, Melissa and Kumar, Pankaj and Kroon, Renee and Barr, Matthew G. and Nicolaidis, Nicolas and Feron, Krishna and Pivrikas, Almantas and Fahy, Adam and Mendaza, Amaia Diaz de Zerio and Kilcoyne, A. L. David and Müller, Christian and Zhou, Xiaojing and Andersson, Mats R. and Dastoor, Paul C. and Belcher, Warwick J.},
abstractNote = {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 (Tg) 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 Tg (sub-Tg and post-Tg), 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.},
doi = {10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021},
journal = {Nano Energy},
number = ,
volume = 19,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2015},
month = {Thu Nov 26 00:00:00 EST 2015}
}
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