- Title
- Nano-pathways: bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics
- Creator
- Holmes, Natalie P.; Marks, Melissa; Kilcoyne, A. L. David; Müller, Christian; Zhou, Xiaojing; Andersson, Mats R.; Dastoor, Paul C.; Belcher, Warwick J.; Kumar, Pankaj; Kroon, Renee; Barr, Matthew G.; Nicolaidis, Nicholas; Feron, Krishna; Pivrikas, Almantas; Fahy, Adam; Mendaza, Amaia Diaz de Zerio
- Relation
- Nano Energy Vol. 19, Issue January 2016, p. 495-510
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021
- Publisher
- Elsevier
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2016
- Description
- Here we report the application of a conjugated copolymer based on thiophene and quinoxaline units, namely poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1), to nanoparticle organic photovoltaics (NP-OPVs). TQ1 exhibits more desirable material properties for NP-OPV fabrication and operation, particularly a high glass transition temperature (Tg) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC71BM (phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the Tg (sub-Tg and post-Tg), both in the active layer drying stage and post-cathode deposition annealing stage of device fabrication, and an in-depth study of the effect of these treatments on nanoparticle film morphology. In addition, we report a type of morphological evolution in nanoparticle films for OPV active layers that has not previously been observed, that of PC71BM nano-pathway formation between dispersed PC71BM-rich nanoparticle cores, which have the benefit of making the bulk film more conducive to charge percolation and extraction.
- Subject
- water processable solar cells; nanoparticle; organic photovoltaic; blend morphology; glass transition temperature; scanning transmission x-ray microscopy
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1339854
- Identifier
- uon:28349
- Identifier
- ISSN:2211-2855
- Language
- eng
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