Comparative study of the nanomorphology of spray and spin coated PTB7 polymer: Fullerene films

Al‐Hussein, Mahmoud; Herzig, Eva M.; Schindler, Markus; Löhrer, Franziska C.; Palumbiny, Claudia M.; Wang, Weijia; Roth, Stephan V.; Müller‐Buschbaum, Peter

doi:10.1002/pen.24317

Cited by 22 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…In one method we used a conventional MD approach for simulating polymer glasses: quenching from the equilibrated melt phase. 30 The morphology of low-bandgap polymers is also known to depend strongly upon interactions with the surface to which they are deposited. We term the structures prepared in this way melt-quenched morphologies.…”

Section: Choice Of Simulation Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the morphology and thermomechanical behaviour of low-bandgap conjugated polymers and bulk heterojunction films

Root

Jackson

Savagatrup

et al. 2017

Energy Environ. Sci.

105

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PAPER Félix Urbain et al. Multijunction Si photocathodes with tunable photovoltages from 2.0 V to 2.8 V for light induced water splitting This paper describes the use of molecular dynamics (MD) to predict the nanoscale morphology and thermomechanical behavior of three low-bandgap semiconducting polymers and their blends with PC71BM. While the three polymers modeled in this study-PTB7, PDTSTPD, and TQ1-all exhibit the donor-acceptor motif characteristic of high-performance donor materials in organic solar cells, they exemplify different morphologies in the solid state. Predictions from the atomistic simulations presented here include the average conjugation length of the polymers, the structural arrangement of conjugated donor and acceptor units in neat and bulk heterojunction (BHJ) films, as well as the glass transition temperature and tensile modulus of neat and BHJ polymer films. Calculated tangent correlation functions exhibit oscillatory decay. This finding suggests that DA polymers are more appropriately modeled as ribbon-like chains as opposed to worm-like chains. To account for the range of morphologies accessible by processing manipulations, both a meltquenched and a self-aggregated morphology are prepared. Owing to the greater free volume of the self-aggregated morphology, these solid structures are found to be softer and weaker than the melt-quenched morphologies. The experimental modulus measured previously for PDTSTPD is similar to the predicted self-aggregated morphology, while the experimental modulus of PTB7 is similar to the predicted melt-quenched modulus. Our comparisons with experiment suggest that solution-processing plays a critical role in optimizing the mechanical properties of conjugated polymeric materials. Overall, the results of this study suggest the promise of MD simulations in determining the ways in which molecular structure influence the morphology and mechanical properties of bulk heterojunction films for solar cells and other organic electronic devices.

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Section: Choice Of Simulation Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modelling the morphology and thermomechanical behaviour of low-bandgap conjugated polymers and bulk heterojunction films

Root

Jackson

Savagatrup

et al. 2017

Energy Environ. Sci.

105

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“…For spraying of cellulose thin films, a commercial airbrush spray nozzle (Harder & Steenbeck, model Grafo T3) was installed above the sample position. [52][53][54][55][56][57] The sample-to-nozzle distance (SND) was set to 15 cm. We used an N 2 pressure of p = 1 bar and a spray rate of (0.10 ± 0.01) mL/s.…”

Section: Thin Film Preparationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphological properties of airbrush spray-deposited enzymatic cellulose thin films

et al. 2018

Self Cite

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We investigate the layer formation of enzymatic cellulose by airbrush spray coating on silicon oxide surfaces. The layer structure and morphology of enzymatic cellulose films in the thickness range between 86 nm and 2.1 lm is determined as a function of the spray coating procedures. For each spray coating step, layer buildup, surface topography, crystallinity as well as the nanoscale structure are probed with atomic force microscopy and surfacesensitive X-ray scattering methods. Without intermittent drying, the film thickness saturates; with intermittent drying, a linear increase in layer thickness with the number of spray pulses is observed. A closed cellulose layer was always observed. The crystallinity remains unchanged; the nanoscale structures show three distinct sizes. Our results indicate that the smallest building blocks increasingly contribute to the morphology inside the cellulose network for thicker films, showing the importance of tailoring the cellulose nanofibrils. For a layer-bylayer coating, intermittent drying is mandatory.

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“…The efficient preparation techniques of polymer and nanoparticle thin films incorporates a wealth of methods [ 6 ]. Among them are spray-coating [ 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 ], spin-coating [ 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 ], Langmuir-Blodgett [ 19 , 20 , 21 ], dip-coating [ 22 , 23 , 24 ], printing [ 25 , 26 , 27 ], and flow stream deposition. Concerning the latter, exploiting the selective interaction of metal with polymers, Metwalli et al investigated the growth of necklace metal nanostructures by laminar flow of gold colloidal dispersions onto block-copolymer (BCP) thin films as templates [ 28 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigating Polymer–Metal Interfaces by Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering from Gradients to Real-Time Studies

Schwartzkopf

Roth

2016

Nanomaterials

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Tailoring the polymer–metal interface is crucial for advanced material design. Vacuum deposition methods for metal layer coating are widely used in industry and research. They allow for installing a variety of nanostructures, often making use of the selective interaction of the metal atoms with the underlying polymer thin film. The polymer thin film may eventually be nanostructured, too, in order to create a hierarchy in length scales. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering is an advanced method to characterize and investigate polymer–metal interfaces. Being non-destructive and yielding statistically relevant results, it allows for deducing the detailed polymer–metal interaction. We review the use of grazing incidence X-ray scattering to elucidate the polymer–metal interface, making use of the modern synchrotron radiation facilities, allowing for very local studies via in situ (so-called “stop-sputter”) experiments as well as studies observing the nanostructured metal nanoparticle layer growth in real time.

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Comparative study of the nanomorphology of spray and spin coated PTB7 polymer: Fullerene films

Cited by 22 publications

References 49 publications

Modelling the morphology and thermomechanical behaviour of low-bandgap conjugated polymers and bulk heterojunction films

Modelling the morphology and thermomechanical behaviour of low-bandgap conjugated polymers and bulk heterojunction films

Morphological properties of airbrush spray-deposited enzymatic cellulose thin films

Investigating Polymer–Metal Interfaces by Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering from Gradients to Real-Time Studies

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