Real‐Time Investigation of Intercalation and Structure Evolution in Printed Polymer:Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

Kassar, Thaer; Güldal, Nusret S.; Berlinghof, Marvin; Ameri, Tayebeh; Kratzer, A.; Schroeder, Bob C.; Destri, Giovanni Li; Hirsch, Andreas; Heeney, Martin; McCulloch, Iain; Brabec, Christoph J.; Unruh, Tobias

doi:10.1002/aenm.201502025

Cited by 22 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…OPV BHJ film morphology evolves over a series of periods during its formation upon drying from dilute solutions . The progressive increase in the components’ concentration in the solvent is one of the reasons of this multiperiod film formation . Throughout the course of active layer formation, the concentration of the donor and acceptor increases up to a critical value called solubility limit, at which the corresponding component might start to precipitate .…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That resulted in fast drying which completely ends in less than 1 min with the formation of stable BMCs. Their volume remains constant upon subsequent further drying …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In our previous work, we presented a custom‐made fully automated sample cell designed for full characterization of the processes taking place during thin film drying . This cell enables real‐time investigations of thin film formation after doctor blading with in situ GIXD/GISAXS measurements complemented by optical techniques such as white light reflectometry and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This cell enables real‐time investigations of thin film formation after doctor blading with in situ GIXD/GISAXS measurements complemented by optical techniques such as white light reflectometry and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. It is equipped with an automated system for accurate temperature control and a motorized syringe to inject the sample precursor solution . The cell has been installed on Beamline ID10 at the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) to monitor the structure formation and drying kinetics of pBTTT‐C14:PC 60 BM blends from their 1,2‐orthodichlorobenzene (oDCB) solutions with different concentrations of Me12 as a solvent additive.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Real‐Time Study on Structure Formation and the Intercalation Process of Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

et al. 2020

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Fullerene intercalation between the side chains of conjugated polymers has a detrimental impact on both charge separation and charge transport processes in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs). In situ grazing incidence X‐ray scattering experiments allow to characterize the structure formation, drying kinetics, and intercalation in blends of phenyl‐c61‐butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) and poly(2,5‐bis(3‐tetradecylthiophen‐2‐yl)thieno[3,2‐b]thiophene) named (pBTTT‐C14) from their 1,2‐orthodichlorobenzene (oDCB) solutions with different volume fractions of dodecanoic acid methyl ester (Me12) as a solvent additive. The structure formation process during evaporation of the solvent:additive mixture can be described by five periods, which are correlated to a multistep contraction of the lamellar stacking of the bimolecular crystals. The onset of crystallization is delayed by increasing the additive volume fraction in the coating solution leading to a promoted crystallinity. A conclusive picture of fullerene intercalation and additive‐tuned structural evolution during the drying of thin films of the polymer:fullerene BHJ blends will be presented.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That resulted in fast drying which completely ends in less than 1 min with the formation of stable BMCs. Their volume remains constant upon subsequent further drying …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Real‐Time Study on Structure Formation and the Intercalation Process of Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

et al. 2020

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“…14,15,[18][19][20][21][22][23] Recent processing approaches, however, have not always been able to overcome the complexity of separating intrinsic from extrinsic effects.…”

Section: 13mentioning

confidence: 99%

High performance all-small-molecule solar cells: engineering the nanomorphology via processing additives

et al. 2016

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adThe use of small volumes of solvent additives (SAs) or little amounts of non-volatile additives is a processing approach that has been implemented in many high/record performing bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs). Here, the effects of six SA systems and a molecular additive di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTBT) were studied with respect to the photovoltaic parameters of solutionprocessed all small molecule solar cells (all-SMSCs) based on the BDTT-S-TR:NIDCS-MO system. An effective strategy with binary additives has been employed in this all-SM system, where a small amount, 0.75 vol% 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) and 2 wt% DTBT were added to the casting solution. This efficient SA approach yielded the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.33%. The relevant additives facilitate phase separation in the nm domains and improve bulk transport as evidenced by photoluminescence (PL), atomic force microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and space charge limited current (SCLC) measurements.

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Sub‐Micrometer Structure Formation during Spin Coating Revealed by Time‐Resolved In Situ Laser and X‐Ray Scattering

Franeker

Hermida-Merino

Gommes

et al. 2017

Adv Funct Materials

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Solution-processed thin polymer films have many applications, such as organic electronics and block-copolymer nanofabrication. These films are often made by spin coating a solution that contains one or more solids and can show different phase-separated structures. The formation mechanism of the droplet-like morphology is studied here by processing polystyrene (PS) and a fullerene derivative ([6,6]-phenyl-C 71 -butyric acid methyl ester, [70]PCBM) from o-xylene. The final structure consists of [70]PCBM droplets partially embedded in a PS-rich matrix showing interdomain distance of 100-1000 nm as determined from transmission electron microscopy and grazing incidence small angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS). To elucidate the formation of these morphologies in real time, ultrafast in situ GISAXS coupled with laser interferometry and laser scattering is performed during spin coating. In situ thickness measurements and laser scattering show that liquid-liquid phase separation occurs at ≈70 vol% solvent. Subsequently, in only 100-400 ms, almost dry [70]PCBM domains start to protrude from the swollen PS-rich matrix. These results are used to verify the ternary phase diagram calculated using Flory-Huggins theory. The discussed multitechnique approach can be applied to study fundamental aspects in soft matter such as phase separation in thin films occurring at very short time scales.

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Real‐Time Investigation of Intercalation and Structure Evolution in Printed Polymer:Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

Cited by 22 publications

References 42 publications

Real‐Time Study on Structure Formation and the Intercalation Process of Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

Real‐Time Study on Structure Formation and the Intercalation Process of Polymer: Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Thin Films

High performance all-small-molecule solar cells: engineering the nanomorphology via processing additives

Sub‐Micrometer Structure Formation during Spin Coating Revealed by Time‐Resolved In Situ Laser and X‐Ray Scattering

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