TY - JOUR
T1 - Building intermixed donor-acceptor architectures for water-processable organic photovoltaics
AU - Marks, Melissa
AU - Holmes, Natalie P.
AU - Sharma, Anirudh
AU - Pan, Xun
AU - Chowdhury, Riku
AU - Barr, Matthew G.
AU - Fenn, Coralie
AU - Griffith, Matthew J.
AU - Feron, Krishna
AU - Kilcoyne, A. L.David
AU - Lewis, David A.
AU - Andersson, Mats R.
AU - Belcher, Warwick J.
AU - Dastoor, Paul C.
PY - 2019/2/19
Y1 - 2019/2/19
N2 - A modified synthesis method for aqueous nanoparticle printing inks, based upon vacuum-assisted solvent removal, is reported. Poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl C 61 butyric acid methyl ester nanoparticle inks were prepared via this modified miniemulsion method, leading to both an improvement in photoactive layer morphology and a substantial reduction in the ink fabrication time. A combination of UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy measurements revealed a nanoparticle morphology comprising highly intermixed donor-acceptor domains. Consistent with these measurements, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis of the nanoparticles showed a glass transition temperature (T g ) of 104 °C, rather than a pure polymer phase or pure fullerene phase T g . Together the spectroscopy, microscopy and thermomechanical data indicate that rapid solvent removal generates a more blended nanoparticle morphology. As such, this study highlights a new experimental lever for optimising nanostructure in the photoactive layer of nanoparticulate organic photovoltaic devices by enabling highly intermixed donor-acceptor architectures to be built from customised nanoparticulate inks.
AB - A modified synthesis method for aqueous nanoparticle printing inks, based upon vacuum-assisted solvent removal, is reported. Poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl C 61 butyric acid methyl ester nanoparticle inks were prepared via this modified miniemulsion method, leading to both an improvement in photoactive layer morphology and a substantial reduction in the ink fabrication time. A combination of UV-visible spectroscopy, photoluminescence spectroscopy and scanning transmission X-ray microscopy measurements revealed a nanoparticle morphology comprising highly intermixed donor-acceptor domains. Consistent with these measurements, dynamic mechanical thermal analysis of the nanoparticles showed a glass transition temperature (T g ) of 104 °C, rather than a pure polymer phase or pure fullerene phase T g . Together the spectroscopy, microscopy and thermomechanical data indicate that rapid solvent removal generates a more blended nanoparticle morphology. As such, this study highlights a new experimental lever for optimising nanostructure in the photoactive layer of nanoparticulate organic photovoltaic devices by enabling highly intermixed donor-acceptor architectures to be built from customised nanoparticulate inks.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85062619258&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://purl.org/au-research/grants/ARC/DP170102467
U2 - 10.1039/c8cp07137c
DO - 10.1039/c8cp07137c
M3 - Article
C2 - 30801074
AN - SCOPUS:85062619258
VL - 21
SP - 5705
EP - 5715
JO - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
JF - Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
SN - 1463-9076
IS - 10
ER -