TY - JOUR
T1 - Nano-pathways: Bridging the divide between water-processable nanoparticulate and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics
AU - Holmes, Natalie
AU - Marks, Melissa
AU - Kumar, Pakaj
AU - Kroon, Renee
AU - Barr, Matthew
AU - Nicolaidis, Nicolas
AU - Feron, Krishna
AU - Pivrikas, Almantas
AU - Fahy, Adam
AU - Mendaza, Amaia
AU - Kilcoyne, A.L.
AU - Muller, Christian
AU - Zhou, Xiaojing
AU - Andersson, Mats R.
AU - Dastoor, Paul
AU - Belcher, Warwick
PY - 2016/1/1
Y1 - 2016/1/1
N2 -
Here we report the application of a conjugated copolymer based on thiophene and quinoxaline units, namely poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1), to nanoparticle organic photovoltaics (NP-OPVs). TQ1 exhibits more desirable material properties for NP-OPV fabrication and operation, particularly a high glass transition temperature (T
g
) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC
71
BM (phenyl C
71
butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the T
g
(sub-T
g
and post-T
g
), both in the active layer drying stage and post-cathode deposition annealing stage of device fabrication, and an in-depth study of the effect of these treatments on nanoparticle film morphology. In addition, we report a type of morphological evolution in nanoparticle films for OPV active layers that has not previously been observed, that of PC
71
BM nano-pathway formation between dispersed PC
71
BM-rich nanoparticle cores, which have the benefit of making the bulk film more conducive to charge percolation and extraction.
AB -
Here we report the application of a conjugated copolymer based on thiophene and quinoxaline units, namely poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1), to nanoparticle organic photovoltaics (NP-OPVs). TQ1 exhibits more desirable material properties for NP-OPV fabrication and operation, particularly a high glass transition temperature (T
g
) and amorphous nature, compared to the commonly applied semicrystalline polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT). This study reports the optimisation of TQ1:PC
71
BM (phenyl C
71
butyric acid methyl ester) NP-OPV device performance by the application of mild thermal annealing treatments in the range of the T
g
(sub-T
g
and post-T
g
), both in the active layer drying stage and post-cathode deposition annealing stage of device fabrication, and an in-depth study of the effect of these treatments on nanoparticle film morphology. In addition, we report a type of morphological evolution in nanoparticle films for OPV active layers that has not previously been observed, that of PC
71
BM nano-pathway formation between dispersed PC
71
BM-rich nanoparticle cores, which have the benefit of making the bulk film more conducive to charge percolation and extraction.
KW - Blend morphology
KW - Glass transition temperature
KW - Nanoparticle
KW - Organic photovoltaic
KW - Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy
KW - Water processable solar cells
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84953340135&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021
DO - 10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.11.021
M3 - Article
SN - 2211-3282
VL - 19
SP - 495
EP - 510
JO - Nano Engergy
JF - Nano Engergy
ER -
