Importance of Nucleation during Morphology Evolution of the Blade-Cast PffBT4T-2OD-Based Organic Solar Cells

Bi, Zhaozhao; Naveed, Hafiz Bilal; Mao, Yimin; Yan, Hongping; Ma, Wei

doi:10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01156

Title: Importance of Nucleation during Morphology Evolution of the Blade-Cast PffBT4T-2OD-Based Organic Solar Cells

Journal Article · 20 August 2018 · Macromolecules

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.macromol.8b01156 · OSTI ID:1476320

Bi, Zhaozhao ^[1]; Naveed, Hafiz Bilal ^[1];

^[2]; Yan, Hongping ^[3];

^[1]

Xi'an Jiaotong Univ., Xi'an (China). State Key Lab. for Mechanical Behavior of Materials
Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering; National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). NIST Center for Neutron Research
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Different temperatures, solvents, and additives are used as influencing parameters to drive molecular packing and phase separation for the development of the controlled evolution of nanostructures for organic solar cells (OSCs). The temperature-dependent aggregation (TDA) features of polymers are explored by investigating aggregation in solution and solid thin-film states using solution small-angle neutron scattering (SANS), soft/hard X-ray scattering, and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) characterizations. In situ grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) reveals that the nucleation process is highly significant and responsible for the ultimate film morphology. Processing conditions such as temperatures, solvents, and additives were used to influence the nucleation and evolution of film morphology. The nucleation process may improve the polymer packing and phase separation. It may also translate into optimized multilength scale domains and efficient charge percolation pathways, a strong implication to control the nucleation process for the efficient separation and transportation of charges in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices.

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Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); Ministry of Science and Technology (China); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); National Science Foundation (NSF)

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

OSTI ID:: 1476320

Journal Information:: Macromolecules, Journal Name: Macromolecules Journal Issue: 17 Vol. 51; ISSN 0024-9297

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Importance of Nucleation during Morphology Evolution of the Blade-Cast PffBT4T-2OD-Based Organic Solar Cells

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