Ring substituents mediate the morphology of PBDTTPD-PCBM bulk-heterojunction solar cells
Type
ArticleAuthors
Warnan, JulienEl Labban, Abdulrahman

Cabanetos, Clement
Hoke, Eric T.
Shukla, Pradeep Kumar
Risko, Chad
Brédas, Jean Luc
McGehee, Michael D.
Beaujuge, Pierre

KAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionChemical Science Program
KAUST Solar Center (KSC)
Material Science and Engineering Program
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
KAUST Grant Number
KUS-C1-015-21Date
2014-03-28Online Publication Date
2014-03-28Print Publication Date
2014-04-08Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/563493
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Among π-conjugated polymer donors for efficient bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell applications, poly(benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene- thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione) (PBDTTPD) polymers yield some of the highest open-circuit voltages (VOC, ca. 0.9 V) and fill-factors (FF, ca. 70%) in conventional (single-cell) BHJ devices with PCBM acceptors. In PBDTTPD, side chains of varying size and branching affect polymer self-assembly, nanostructural order, and impact material performance. However, the role of the polymer side-chain pattern in the intimate mixing between polymer donors and PCBM acceptors, and on the development of the BHJ morphology is in general less understood. In this contribution, we show that ring substituents such as furan (F), thiophene (T) and selenophene (S)-incorporated into the side chains of PBDTTPD polymers-can induce significant and, of importance, very different morphological effects in BHJs with PCBM. A combination of experimental and theoretical (via density functional theory) characterizations sheds light on how varying the heteroatom of the ring substituents impacts (i) the preferred side-chain configurations and (ii) the ionization, electronic, and optical properties of the PBDTTPD polymers. In parallel, we find that the PBDT(X)TPD analogs (with X = F, T, or S) span a broad range of power conversion efficiencies (PCEs, 3-6.5%) in optimized devices with improved thin-film morphologies via the use of 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO), and discuss that persistent morphological impediments at the nanoscale can be at the origin of the spread in PCE across optimized PBDT(X)TPD-based devices. With their high VOC ∼1 V, PBDT(X)TPD polymers are promising candidates for use in the high-band gap cell of tandem solar cells. © 2014 American Chemical Society.Citation
Warnan, J., El Labban, A., Cabanetos, C., Hoke, E. T., Shukla, P. K., Risko, C., … Beaujuge, P. M. (2014). Ring Substituents Mediate the Morphology of PBDTTPD-PCBM Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells. Chemistry of Materials, 26(7), 2299–2306. doi:10.1021/cm500172wSponsors
The authors acknowledge financial support under Baseline Research Funding from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). E.H., CR., J.L.B., and M.D.M.c.G. acknowledge financial support by the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) (Award KUS-C1-015-21) made possible by KAUST. The authors thank KAUST Analytical Core Laboratories for mass spectrometry, SEC measurements and elemental analyses, and Sandra Seywald (MPIP-Mainz, Germany) for additional SEC measurements. The authors thank the Advanced Imaging and Characterization Laboratories at KAUST for technical support. Portions of this research were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource user facility, operated by Stanford University on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences. P.K.S. is grateful to the University Grants Commission, New Delhi, India for a research fellowship.Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)Journal
Chemistry of Materialsae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/cm500172w