Environmentally friendly preparation of nanoparticles for organic photovoltaics
Journal article, 2018
Aqueous nanoparticle dispersions were prepared from a conjugated polymer poly[thiophene-2,5-diyl-alt-5,10-bis((2-hexyldecyl)oxy)dithieno[3,2-c:3′,2′-h][1,5]naphthyridine-2,7-diyl] (PTNT) and fullerene blend utilizing chloroform as well as a non-chlorinated and environmentally benign solvent, o-xylene, as the miniemulsion dispersed phase solvent. The nanoparticles (NPs) in the solid-state film were found to coalesce and offered a smooth surface topography upon thermal annealing. Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) with photoactive layer processed from the nanoparticle dispersions prepared using chloroform as the miniemulsion dispersed phase solvent were found to have a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.04%, which increased to 1.65% for devices utilizing NPs prepared from o-xylene. Physical, thermal and optical properties of NPs prepared using both chloroform and o-xylene were systematically studied using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and correlated to their photovoltaic properties. The PL results indicate different morphology of NPs in the solid state were achieved by varying miniemulsion dispersed phase solvent.
Author
Xun Pan
Flinders University
A. Sharma
University of Bordeaux
Flinders University
Desta Antenehe Gedefaw
University of the South Pacific
Renee Kroon
Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry
Amaia Diaz de Zerio Mendaza
Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry
N. P. Holmes
University of Newcastle
A. L. D. Kilcoyne
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
M. G. Barr
University of Newcastle
A. Fahy
University of Newcastle
Melissa Marks
University of Newcastle
X. J. Zhou
University of Newcastle
W. J. Belcher
University of Newcastle
P. Dastoor
University of Newcastle
Mats Andersson
Flinders University
Organic Electronics: physics, materials, applications
1566-1199 (ISSN)
Vol. 59 432-440Subject Categories
Polymer Chemistry
Polymer Technologies
Materials Chemistry
DOI
10.1016/j.orgel.2018.05.040