Probing the Contribution of Lateral Pathways to Out–of–Plane Charge Transport in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions

Fernando, Pravini S.; Mehta, Jeremy S.; Smilgies, Detlef‐M.; Mativetsky, Jeffrey M.

doi:10.1002/aelm.202200156

Title: Probing the Contribution of Lateral Pathways to Out–of–Plane Charge Transport in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions

Journal Article · Fri May 13 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Advanced Electronic Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202200156· OSTI ID:1981369

Fernando, Pravini S. ^[1]; Mehta, Jeremy S. ^[1]; Smilgies, Detlef‐M. ^[1];

^[1]

Binghamton Univ., NY (United States)

Abstract The nanoscale interpenetrating electron donor–acceptor network in organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells results in efficient charge photogeneration but creates complex 3D pathways for charge transport. At present, little is known about the extent to which out‐of‐plane charge flow relies on lateral electrical connectivity. In this work, a procedure, based on conductive atomic force microscopy, is introduced to quantify lateral current spreading during out‐of‐plane charge transport. Using the developed approach, the dependence of lateral spreading on BHJ phase separation, composition, and molecule type (small molecule vs polymer) is studied. In the small‐molecule BHJ, 7,7′‐(4,4‐bis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐4 H ‐silolo[3,2‐ b :4,5‐ b ′]dithiophene‐2,6‐diyl)bis(6‐fluoro‐4‐(5′‐hexyl‐[2,2′‐bithiophen]‐5‐yl)benzo[ c ]‐[1,2,5]thiadiazole):(6,6)‐Phenyl‐C ₇₁ ‐butyric acid methyl ester ( p ‐DTS(FBTTh ₂ ) ₂ :PC ₇₁ BM), an increase is observed in lateral hole current spreading as the population of donor crystallites, bearing an edge‐on molecular orientation, is increased. When integrated into BHJs, the polymer donor poly(3‐hexylthiophene‐2,5‐diyl) (P3HT) leads to greater lateral hole current spreading and more spatially uniform charge transport than the small‐molecule donor, owing to in‐plane charge transport along the polymer backbone. Through the newly introduced electrical characterization scheme, these experiments bring to light the role of lateral electrical connectivity in assisting charge navigation across BHJs.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

View Accepted Manuscript (Publisher)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704; DMR-1555028

OSTI ID:: 1981369

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1867951

Journal Information:: Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 9; ISSN 2199-160X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (53)

Quantifying organic solar cell morphology: a computational study of three-dimensional maps Wodo, Olga; Roehling, John D.; Moulé, Adam J. Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 6, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1039/c3ee41224e	journal	January 2013
Towards a bright future: The versatile applications of organic solar cells Wu, Junjiang; Gao, Mengyuan; Chai, Yubo Materials Reports: Energy, Vol. 1, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.matre.2021.100062	journal	November 2021
Supramolecular Order of Solution-Processed Perylenediimide Thin Films: High-Performance Small-Channel n-Type Organic Transistors Fabiano, Simone; Wang, He; Piliego, Claudia Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 21, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201101427	journal	October 2011
Space Charge Limited Current Measurements on Conjugated Polymer Films using Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy Reid, Obadiah G.; Munechika, Keiko; Ginger, David S. Nano Letters, Vol. 8, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl080155l	journal	June 2008
Three-dimensional nanoscale organization of polymer solar cells van Bavel, Svetlana; Sourty, Erwan; de With, Gijsbertus Journal of Materials Chemistry, Vol. 19, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1039/b900901a	journal	January 2009
Efficient inverted polymer solar cells employing favourable molecular orientation Vohra, Varun; Kawashima, Kazuaki; Kakara, Takeshi Nature Photonics, Vol. 9, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2015.84	journal	May 2015
Effect of Miscibility and Percolation on Electron Transport in Amorphous Poly(3-Hexylthiophene)/Phenyl- $C_{61}$ -Butyric Acid Methyl Ester Blends Vakhshouri, Kiarash; Kozub, Derek R.; Wang, Chenchen Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.026601	journal	January 2012
Colocalized Nanoscale Electrical and Compositional Mapping of Organic Solar Cells Mehta, Jeremy S.; Fernando, Pravini S.; Grazul, John L. ACS Applied Energy Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaem.9b00829	journal	June 2019
Peculiarity of Two Thermodynamically-Stable Morphologies and Their Impact on the Efficiency of Small Molecule Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Herath, Nuradhika; Das, Sanjib; Keum, Jong K. Scientific Reports, Vol. 5, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep13407	journal	August 2015
Improved Light Harvesting and Improved Efficiency by Insertion of an Optical Spacer (ZnO) in Solution-Processed Small-Molecule Solar Cells Kyaw, Aung Ko Ko; Wang, Dong Hwan; Wynands, David Nano Letters, Vol. 13, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl401758g	journal	July 2013
18% Efficiency organic solar cells Liu, Qishi; Jiang, Yufan; Jin, Ke Science Bulletin, Vol. 65, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2020.01.001	journal	February 2020
Conjugated Polymer–Small Molecule Alloy Leads to High Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells Zhang, Jianqi; Zhang, Yajie; Fang, Jin Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 137, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b03449	journal	June 2015
Single-layered organic photovoltaics with double cascading charge transport pathways: 18% efficiencies Zhang, Ming; Zhu, Lei; Zhou, Guanqing Nature Communications, Vol. 12, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20580-8	journal	January 2021
Flexible and Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells Li, Yaowen; Xu, Guiying; Cui, Chaohua Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201701791	journal	November 2017
Ternary Organic Blend Approaches for High Photovoltaic Performance in Versatile Applications Nam, Minwoo; Kang, Joo‐han; Shin, Jisu Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 9, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201901856	journal	August 2019
Structural origin of anisotropic transport in electrically conducting dichloroacetic acid-treated polymers Mativetsky, Jeffrey M.; Tarver, Jacob; Yang, Xiaofang Organic Electronics, Vol. 15, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2013.12.019	journal	February 2014
Real-time X-ray scattering studies of film evolution in high performing small-molecule–fullerene organic solar cells Engmann, Sebastian; Bokel, Felicia A.; Herzing, Andrew A. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 3, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1039/C5TA00935A	journal	January 2015
Polymer–Fullerene Composite Solar Cells Thompson, Barry C.; Fréchet, Jean M. J. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, Vol. 47, Issue 1, p. 58-77 https://doi.org/10.1002/anie.200702506	journal	January 2008
Organic photovoltaic cells – promising indoor light harvesters for self-sustainable electronics Lee, Harrison Ka Hin; Wu, Jiaying; Barbé, Jérémy Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 6, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1039/C7TA10875C	journal	January 2018
Highly efficient and thermally stable fullerene-free organic solar cells based on a small molecule donor and acceptor Badgujar, Sachin; Song, Chang Eun; Oh, Sora Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 4, Issue 42 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA06367E	journal	January 2016
Electrical Transport Properties of Oligothiophene-Based Molecular Films Studied by Current Sensing Atomic Force Microscopy Hendriksen, Bas L. M.; Martin, Florent; Qi, Yabing Nano Letters, Vol. 11, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl202720y	journal	October 2011
The influence of molecular orientation on organic bulk heterojunction solar cells Tumbleston, John R.; Collins, Brian A.; Yang, Liqiang Nature Photonics, Vol. 8, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2014.55	journal	April 2014
Effects of Solvent Additives on Morphology, Charge Generation, Transport, and Recombination in Solution-Processed Small-Molecule Solar Cells Kyaw, Aung Ko Ko; Wang, Dong Hwan; Luo, Chan Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 4, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201301469	journal	January 2014
A Simple n-Dopant Derived from Diquat Boosts the Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells to 18.3% Lin, Yuanbao; Nugraha, Mohamad Insan; Firdaus, Yuliar ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c01949	journal	October 2020
High-resolution charge carrier mobility mapping of heterogeneous organic semiconductors Button, Steven W.; Mativetsky, Jeffrey M. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4999762	journal	August 2017
Electron Transport Nanostructures of Conjugated Polymer Films Visualized by Conductive Atomic Force Microscopy Kondo, Yuya; Osaka, Miki; Benten, Hiroaki ACS Macro Letters, Vol. 4, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsmacrolett.5b00352	journal	August 2015
Recent Progress on Indoor Organic Photovoltaics: From Molecular Design to Production Scale Mainville, Mathieu; Leclerc, Mario ACS Energy Letters, Vol. 5, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.0c00177	journal	March 2020
Ternary solar cells with a mixed face-on and edge-on orientation enable an unprecedented efficiency of 12.1% Kumari, Tanya; Lee, Sang Myeon; Kang, So-Huei Energy & Environmental Science, Vol. 10, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6EE02851A	journal	January 2017
Multiple percolation in conducting polymer blends Levon, Kalle; Margolina, Alla; Patashinsky, Alexander Z. Macromolecules, Vol. 26, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1021/ma00067a054	journal	July 1993
Direct Structural Mapping of Organic Field-Effect Transistors Reveals Bottlenecks to Carrier Transport Li, Ruipeng; Ward, Jeremy W.; Smilgies, Detlef-M. Advanced Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201201856	journal	August 2012
The Impact of Molecular Orientation on the Photovoltaic Properties of a Phthalocyanine/Fullerene Heterojunction Rand, Barry P.; Cheyns, David; Vasseur, Karolien Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 22, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201200512	journal	April 2012
Film Morphology of High Efficiency Solution-Processed Small-Molecule Solar Cells Love, John A.; Proctor, Christopher M.; Liu, Jianhua Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201300099	journal	May 2013
Nanostructure determines the intensity-dependence of open-circuit voltage in plastic solar cells Reid, Obadiah G.; Xin, Hao; Jenekhe, Samson A. Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3482009	journal	October 2010
Face-on stacking and enhanced out-of-plane hole mobility in graphene-templated copper phthalocyanine Mativetsky, Jeffrey M.; Wang, He; Lee, Stephanie S. Chem. Commun., Vol. 50, Issue 40 https://doi.org/10.1039/C3CC47516F	journal	January 2014
New generation solar cells: concepts, trends and perspectives Ragoussi, Maria-Eleni; Torres, Tomás Chemical Communications, Vol. 51, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1039/C4CC09888A	journal	January 2015
A non-fullerene acceptor with a fully fused backbone for efficient polymer solar cells with a high open-circuit voltage Li, Shuixing; Liu, Wenqing; Li, Chang-Zhi Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 4, Issue 39 https://doi.org/10.1039/C6TA07368A	journal	January 2016
Organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors Hou, Jianhui; Inganäs, Olle; Friend, Richard H. Nature Materials, Vol. 17, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat5063	journal	January 2018
Intramolecular Charge Transport along Isolated Chains of Conjugated Polymers: Effect of Torsional Disorder and Polymerization Defects Grozema, Ferdinand C.; van Duijnen, Piet Th.; Berlin, Yuri A. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, Vol. 106, Issue 32 https://doi.org/10.1021/jp021114v	journal	August 2002
Single‐Junction Organic Photovoltaic Cell with 19% Efficiency Cui, Yong; Xu, Ye; Yao, Huifeng Advanced Materials, Vol. 33, Issue 41 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202102420	journal	August 2021
Three-Dimensional Concentration Mapping of Organic Blends Roehling, John D.; Batenburg, K. Joost; Swain, F. Benjamin Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 23, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201202190	journal	November 2012
Solvent Additive Effects on Small Molecule Crystallization in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Probed During Spin Casting Perez, Louis A.; Chou, Kang Wei; Love, John A. Advanced Materials, Vol. 25, Issue 44 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201302389	journal	September 2013
Morphology Control in Organic Solar Cells Zhao, Fuwen; Wang, Chunru; Zhan, Xiaowei Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201703147	journal	March 2018
Effects of Thermal Annealing Upon the Morphology of Polymer-Fullerene Blends Verploegen, Eric; Mondal, Rajib; Bettinger, Christopher J. Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 20, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201000975	journal	August 2010
A small molecule donor containing a non-fused ring core for all-small-molecule organic solar cells with high efficiency over 11% Li, Xinxin; Wang, Yan; Zhu, Qinglian Journal of Materials Chemistry A, Vol. 7, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1039/C8TA11441B	journal	January 2019
Silaindacenodithiophene-Based Molecular Donor: Morphological Features and Use in the Fabrication of Compositionally Tolerant, High-Efficiency Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells Love, John A.; Nagao, Ikuhiro; Huang, Ye Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 136, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/ja412473p	journal	February 2014
Anisotropic Structure and Charge Transport in Highly Strain-Aligned Regioregular Poly(3-hexylthiophene) O'Connor, Brendan; Kline, R. Joseph; Conrad, Brad R. Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 21, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201100904	journal	August 2011
Wide-gap non-fullerene acceptor enabling high-performance organic photovoltaic cells for indoor applications Cui, Yong; Wang, Yuming; Bergqvist, Jonas Nature Energy, Vol. 4, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-019-0448-5	journal	August 2019
Scherrer grain-size analysis adapted to grazing-incidence scattering with area detectors Smilgies, Detlef-M. Journal of Applied Crystallography, Vol. 42, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1107/S0021889809040126	journal	October 2009
Solution-Processed Small-Molecule Bulk Heterojunction Ambipolar Transistors Cheng, Shiau-Shin; Huang, Peng-Yi; Ramesh, Mohan Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 24, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201303378	journal	November 2013
New Wide Band Gap Donor for Efficient Fullerene-Free All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Yang, Liyan; Zhang, Shaoqing; He, Chang Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b11612	journal	January 2017
Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Morphology and Performance Relationships Huang, Ye; Kramer, Edward J.; Heeger, Alan J. Chemical Reviews, Vol. 114, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/cr400353v	journal	May 2014
Two-dimensional detector software: From real detector to idealised image or two-theta scan Hammersley, A. P.; Svensson, S. O.; Hanfland, M. High Pressure Research, Vol. 14, Issue 4-6, p. 235-248 https://doi.org/10.1080/08957959608201408	journal	January 1996
Effective charge collection area during conductive and photoconductive atomic force microscopy Qiu, Haian; Dong, Xue; Shim, Jong Hyun Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5035351	journal	June 2018

Similar Records

High open-circuit voltage small-molecule p-DTS(FBTTh ₂ )₂.ICBA bulk heterojunction solar cells – morphology, excited-state dynamics, and photovoltaic performance

Journal Article · Thu Nov 27 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Journal of Materials Chemistry. A · OSTI ID:1981369

Ko Kyaw, Aung Ko; Gehrig, Dominik; Zhang, Jie; +4 more

Efficient solution-processed small molecule: Cadmium selenide quantum dot bulk heterojunction solar cells

Journal Article · Mon Dec 16 00:00:00 EST 2013 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:1981369

Gupta, Vinay; Upreti, Tanvi; Chand, Suresh

Robust Processing of Small-Molecule:Fullerene Organic Solar Cells via Use of Nucleating Agents

Journal Article · Tue Apr 03 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · ACS Applied Energy Materials · OSTI ID:1981369

Treat, Neil D.; Reid, Obadiah G.; Fearn, Sarah; +4 more

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
Science & Technology - Other Topics
Materials Science
Physics
Bulk heterojunctions
Charge transport
Organic solar cells

Title: Probing the Contribution of Lateral Pathways to Out–of–Plane Charge Transport in Organic Bulk Heterojunctions

Citation Formats

References (53)

Similar Records

Related Subjects