Toward High Efficiency Water Processed Organic Photovoltaics: Controlling the Nanoparticle Morphology with Surface Energies

Laval, Hugo; Holmes, Alexandre; Marcus, Matthew A.; Watts, Benjamin; Bonfante, Gwenaël; Schmutz, Marc; Deniau, Elise; Szymanski, Robin; Lartigau‐Dagron, Christine; Xu, Xiaoxue; Cairney, Julie M.; Hirakawa, Kazuhiko; Awai, Fumiyasu; Kubo, Takaya; Wantz, Guillaume; Bousquet, Antoine; Holmes, Natalie P.; Chambon, Sylvain

doi:10.1002/aenm.202300249

Title: Toward High Efficiency Water Processed Organic Photovoltaics: Controlling the Nanoparticle Morphology with Surface Energies

Journal Article · 16 May 2023 · Advanced Energy Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202300249 · OSTI ID:2234079

Laval, Hugo ^[1]; Holmes, Alexandre ^[2]; Marcus, Matthew A. ^[3];

^[4]; Bonfante, Gwenaël ^[5]; Schmutz, Marc ^[6]; Deniau, Elise ^[7]; Szymanski, Robin ^[1];

^[2];

^[8];

^[5]; Awai, Fumiyasu ^[5]; Kubo, Takaya ^[5];

^[1];

^[2];

^[8];

^[9]

Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, IMS, UMR 5218, Talence (France)
Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, IPREM (France)
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)
Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)
University of Tokyo (Japan)
Université de Strasbourg, CNRS, Institut Charles Sadron-UPR22 (France)
Universite de Pau et des Pays de l'Adour, E2S UPPA, CNRS, IPREM (France); Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans (IMMM), UMR CNRS 6283, Le Mans Université (France)
University of Sydney, NSW (Australia)
Université de Bordeaux, CNRS, Bordeaux INP, IMS, UMR 5218, Talence (France); University of Tokyo (Japan)

Here efficient organic photovoltaic devices fabricated from water-based colloidal dispersions with donor:acceptor composite nanoparticles achieving up to 9.98% power conversion efficiency (PCE) are reported. This high efficiency for water processed organic solar cells is attributed to morphology control by surface energy matching between the donor and the acceptor materials. Indeed, due to a low interfacial energy between donor and the acceptor, no large phase separation occurs during the nanoparticle formation process as well as upon thermal annealing. Indeed, synchrotron-based scanning transmission X-ray microscopy reveals that the internal morphology of composite nanoparticles is intermixed as well as the active layer morphology after thermal treatment. The PCE of this system reaches 85% that of devices prepared from chlorinated solvent. The gap between water-based inks and organic solvent-based inks gets narrower, which is promising for the development of eco-friendly processing and fabrication of organic photovoltaics.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS); German Minister für Bildung und Forschung (BMBF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2234079

Journal Information:: Advanced Energy Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Issue: 26 Vol. 13; ISSN 1614-6832

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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