Application of low-voltage backscattered electron imaging to the mapping of organic photovoltaic blend morphologies

Masters, Robert; Wan, Qing; Zhou, Yangbo; Sandu, Adrian; Dapor, Maurizio; Zhang, Hongzhou; Lidzey, David G.; Rodenburg, Cornelia

doi:10.1088/1742-6596/644/1/012017

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 11 publications

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“…Distinct differences between nontreated (Figure a) and treated PA12 (Figure b) particles are observed in the BSE‐SEM images. Both exhibit dark areas, which are pores or cracks and very bright nanostructures which we assume are the TiO 2 nanoparticles present in the nontreated PA12 powder . The nontreated powder exhibits few nanopores, while the LP‐PT powder contains micron size pores.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Surface modification of the laser sintering standard powder polyamide 12 by plasma treatments

Almansoori

Masters

Abrams

et al. 2018

Plasma Processes & Polymers

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Polyamide 12 (PA12) powder was exposed for up to 3 h to low pressure air plasma treatment (LP‐PT) and several minutes by two different atmospheric pressure plasma jets (APPJ) i.e., kINPen (K‐APPJ) and Hairline (H‐APPJ). The chemical and physical changes resulting from LP‐PT were observed by a combination of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Hot Stage Microscopy (HSM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), which demonstrated significant changes between the plasma treated and untreated PA12 powders. PA12 exposed to LP‐PT showed an increase in wettability, was relatively porous, and possessed a higher density, which resulted from the surface functionalization and materials removal during the plasma exposure. However, it showed poor melt behavior under heating conditions typical for Laser Sintering. In contrast, brief PJ treatments demonstrated similar changes in porosity, but crucially, retained the favorable melt characteristics of PA12 powder.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 91%

Surface modification of the laser sintering standard powder polyamide 12 by plasma treatments

Almansoori

Masters

Abrams

et al. 2018

Plasma Processes & Polymers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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Novel organic photovoltaic polymer blends: A rapid, 3-dimensional morphology analysis using backscattered electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope

Masters

Wan

Zhang

et al. 2017

Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

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Finding the optimal morphology of novel organic photovoltaic (OPV) polymer blends is a major obstacle slowing the development of more efficient OPV devices. With a focus on accelerating the systematic morphology optimisation process, we demonstrate a technique offering rapid high-resolution, 3-dimensional blend morphology analysis in the scanning electron microscope. This backscattered electron imaging technique is used to investigate the morphological features and lengthscales defining the promising PffBT4T-2OD:PC70BM blend system and show how its photovoltaic performance is related to the nature of its phase separation. Low-voltage backscattered electron imaging can be used to probe for structure and domain stacking through the thickness of the film, as well as imaging surface morphology with highly competitive spatial resolution. For reference, we compare our results with equivalent images of the widely studied P3HT:PC60BM blend system. Our results also demonstrate that backscattered electron imaging offers significant advantages over conventional cross-sectional imaging techniques, and show that it enables a fast, systematic approach to control 3-dimensional active layer morphology in polymer:fullerene blends

show abstract

Application of low-voltage backscattered electron imaging to the mapping of organic photovoltaic blend morphologies

Cited by 2 publications

References 11 publications

Surface modification of the laser sintering standard powder polyamide 12 by plasma treatments

Surface modification of the laser sintering standard powder polyamide 12 by plasma treatments

Novel organic photovoltaic polymer blends: A rapid, 3-dimensional morphology analysis using backscattered electron imaging in the scanning electron microscope

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