Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics
Journal article, 2016

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-di yl] (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 (T-g) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC71BM (phenyl C-71 butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the T-g (sub-T-g and post-T-g), 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.

Organic photovoltaic

Blend morphology

Nanoparticle

Glass transition

Water processable solar cells

Author

N. P. Holmes

University of Newcastle

M. Marks

University of Newcastle

P. Kumar

University of Newcastle

National Physical Laboratory India

Renee Kroon

University of South Australia

M. G. Barr

University of Newcastle

N. Nicolaidis

University of Newcastle

K. Feron

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

University of Newcastle

A. Pivrikas

Murdoch University

University of Queensland

A. Fahy

University of Newcastle

Amaia Diaz de Zerio Mendaza

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

A. L. D. Kilcoyne

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Christian Müller

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

X. J. Zhou

University of Newcastle

Mats Andersson

Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry

P. Dastoor

University of Newcastle

W. J. Belcher

University of Newcastle

Nano Energy

2211-2855 (ISSN)

Vol. 19 495-510

Subject Categories

Polymer Chemistry

DOI

10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021

More information

Latest update

10/10/2023