Promoting Morphology with a Favorable Density of States Using Diiodooctane to Improve Organic Photovoltaic Device Efficiency and Charge Carrier Lifetimes
Abstract
Due to the inherent challenges in probing nanoscale properties within bulk heterojunction (BHJ) active layers of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, the relationship between morphology and nanoscale electronic structure is not well understood. Here, we employ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) dI/dV imaging and localized density of states (DOS) spectra to investigate the influence of additives on morphology in a high-performance OPV system. In short, we are able to correlate the use of diiodooctane (DIO) additive with significant changes to the distribution of the localized DOS, most notably a broader distribution of PCE10 polymer HOMO levels and PC70BM fullerene LUMO levels, as well as significantly smaller domain sizes and significantly higher overall device efficiencies. We further correlate this data with a nearly 3-fold increase in charge carrier lifetimes in the active layer when DIO is employed, determined by time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements. In conclusion, the results are consistent with the growing body of literature evidence that DIO promotes the formation of a polymer/fullerene mixed phase and therefore highlight the unique information that this combination of techniques can provide when investigating OPV active layer morphology.
- Authors:
-
[2];
[1]
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata (India)
- Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1372627
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5900-68311
Journal ID: ISSN 2380-8195
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- ACS Energy Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 2; Journal Issue: 7; Journal ID: ISSN 2380-8195
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 14 SOLAR ENERGY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; processing additives; scanning tunneling spectroscopy; organic photovoltaics; morphology and nanoscale electronic properties
Citation Formats
Garner, Logan E., Bera, Abhijit, Larson, Bryon W., Ostrowski, David P., Pal, Amlan J., and Braunecker, Wade A. Promoting Morphology with a Favorable Density of States Using Diiodooctane to Improve Organic Photovoltaic Device Efficiency and Charge Carrier Lifetimes. United States: N. p., 2017.
Web. doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00315.
Garner, Logan E., Bera, Abhijit, Larson, Bryon W., Ostrowski, David P., Pal, Amlan J., & Braunecker, Wade A. Promoting Morphology with a Favorable Density of States Using Diiodooctane to Improve Organic Photovoltaic Device Efficiency and Charge Carrier Lifetimes. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00315
Garner, Logan E., Bera, Abhijit, Larson, Bryon W., Ostrowski, David P., Pal, Amlan J., and Braunecker, Wade A. Tue .
"Promoting Morphology with a Favorable Density of States Using Diiodooctane to Improve Organic Photovoltaic Device Efficiency and Charge Carrier Lifetimes". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00315. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1372627.
@article{osti_1372627,
title = {Promoting Morphology with a Favorable Density of States Using Diiodooctane to Improve Organic Photovoltaic Device Efficiency and Charge Carrier Lifetimes},
author = {Garner, Logan E. and Bera, Abhijit and Larson, Bryon W. and Ostrowski, David P. and Pal, Amlan J. and Braunecker, Wade A.},
abstractNote = {Due to the inherent challenges in probing nanoscale properties within bulk heterojunction (BHJ) active layers of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, the relationship between morphology and nanoscale electronic structure is not well understood. Here, we employ scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) dI/dV imaging and localized density of states (DOS) spectra to investigate the influence of additives on morphology in a high-performance OPV system. In short, we are able to correlate the use of diiodooctane (DIO) additive with significant changes to the distribution of the localized DOS, most notably a broader distribution of PCE10 polymer HOMO levels and PC70BM fullerene LUMO levels, as well as significantly smaller domain sizes and significantly higher overall device efficiencies. We further correlate this data with a nearly 3-fold increase in charge carrier lifetimes in the active layer when DIO is employed, determined by time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements. In conclusion, the results are consistent with the growing body of literature evidence that DIO promotes the formation of a polymer/fullerene mixed phase and therefore highlight the unique information that this combination of techniques can provide when investigating OPV active layer morphology.},
doi = {10.1021/acsenergylett.7b00315},
journal = {ACS Energy Letters},
number = 7,
volume = 2,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Tue Jun 06 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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