Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends

Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila; Ferguson, Andrew J.; Pfeilsticker, Jason R.; Larson, Bryon W.; Garner, Logan E.; Brook, Colin P.; Strauss, Steven H.; Boltalina, Olga V.; Ramamurthy, Praveen C.; Braunecker, Wade A.

doi:10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045

Title: Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends

Journal Article · Tue Aug 28 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Organic Electronics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2018.08.045· OSTI ID:1468736

Nellissery Viswanathan, Vinila ^[1]; Ferguson, Andrew J. ^[2];

^[2]; Larson, Bryon W. ^[2]; Garner, Logan E. ^[2]; Brook, Colin P. ^[3]; Strauss, Steven H. ^[3]; Boltalina, Olga V. ^[3]; Ramamurthy, Praveen C. ^[1];

^[2]

Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore (India)
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Colorado State Univ., Fort Collins, CO (United States)

The photobleaching dynamics of a series of three organic photovoltaic (OPV) donor polymers and five different fullerenes are presented. The fullerenes studied include PC₆₀BM and four perfluoroalkylfullerenes with relatively large electron affinities, namely C₆₀(CF₃)₂, C₆₀(i-C₃F₇)₂, C₆₀(CF₃)₄, and C₆₀(CF₃)₈. The donor polymers were all based on cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) and thienopyrrolodione (TPD), but the TPD side chains were designed to include alkyl, partially fluorinated alkyl, and fluorinated phenyl groups to improve miscibility of the active layer components. Exciton harvesting was probed with photoluminescence quenching measurements. Accelerated photodegradation studies of polymer:fullerene blends were then carried out under white light illumination at ~1.2 suns in air. A strong correlation was observed between the polymer donor photobleaching rate and the electron affinity of the fullerene. The most dramatic effect was observed for a blend of C₆₀(CF₃)₈ with the donor containing fluorinated phenyl groups: the blend required 150 times the dosing of photons to bleach to 80% of its initial optical density than an analagous blend of PC60BM and non-fluorinated donor polymer. Furthermore, these results ultimately suggest that appropriate fluorination strategies applied to both the donor and acceptor can be a viable route toward a new paradigm of intrinsically photo- and phase-stable OPV active layers.

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Research Organization:: National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office

Grant/Contract Number:: AC36-08GO28308

OSTI ID:: 1468736

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1703027

Report Number(s):: NREL/JA-5900-71422

Journal Information:: Organic Electronics, Vol. 62; ISSN 1566-1199

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 4 works

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Title: Strategic fluorination of polymers and fullerenes improves photostability of organic photovoltaic blends

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