Correlating the Phase Behavior with the Device Performance in Binary P3HT: NFA Blend Using Optical Probes of Microstructure
Type
ArticleAuthors
Rezasoltani, ElhamGuilbert, Anne A. Y.
Yan, Jun
Rodríguez-Martínez, Xabier
Azzouzi, Mohammed
Eisner, Flurin
Tuladhar, Sachetan M
Hamid, Zeinab
Wadsworth, Andrew
McCulloch, Iain

Campoy-Quiles, Mariano
Nelson, Jenny
KAUST Department
Chemical Science ProgramKAUST Solar Center (KSC)
Physical Science and Engineering (PSE) Division
Date
2020-09-02Online Publication Date
2020-09-02Print Publication Date
2020-10-13Embargo End Date
2021-09-02Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/665057
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Show full item recordAbstract
The performance of photovoltaic devices based on blends of conjugated polymers with non-fullerene acceptors depends upon the phase behaviour and microstructure of the binary, which in turn depends on the chemical structures of the molecular components and the blend composition. We investigate the correlation between molecular structure, composition, phase behaviour and device performance of a model system comprising semi-crystalline poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) as the donor polymer and three non-fullerene acceptors, two of which (O-IDTBR/EH-IDTBR) have a planar core with different side-chains, and one (O-IDFBR) has a twisted core. We combine differential scanning calorimetry with optical measurements including UV-Vis, photoluminescence, spectroscopic ellipsometry and Raman, and photovoltaic device performance measurements, all at varying blend composition. For P3HT:IDTBR blends, the crystallinity of polymer and acceptor are preserved over a wide composition range and the blend displays a eutectic phase behaviour, with the optimum solar cell composition lying close to the eutectic. For P3HT:IDFBR blends, increasing acceptor content disrupts the polymer crystallinity, and the optimum device composition appears to be limited by polymer connectivity rather than being linked to the eutectic. The optical probes allow us to probe both the crystalline and amorphous phases, clearly revealing the compositions at which component mixing disrupts crystallinity.Citation
Rezasoltani, E., Guilbert, A. A. Y., Yan, J., Rodríguez-Martínez, X., Azzouzi, M., Eisner, F., … Nelson, J. (2020). Correlating the Phase Behavior with the Device Performance in Binary P3HT: NFA Blend Using Optical Probes of Microstructure. Chemistry of Materials. doi:10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02093Sponsors
E.R. is grateful to the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT) for a postdoctoral fellowship and acknowledges financial support from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology. J.N. acknowledges financial support from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (grants no EP/P005543/1, EP/R023581/1 and EP/P032591/1) and from the European Research Council for funding (grant agreement No. 742708). JN and ER thanks the Helmholtz foundation for a Helmholtz International Fellow Award. A.A.Y.G. thanks the EPSRC for award of a postdoctoral fellowship (Grant No. EP/P00928X/1). The authors at ICMAB would like to acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness through the ”Severo Ocho” Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2015-0496) and project reference PGC2018-095411-B-I00 as well as the European Research Council (ERC) under grant agreement no.648901. I.M. acknowledges funding from KAUST, as well as EPSRC Project EP/G037515/1, EP/M005143/1, ECFP7 Project SC2 (610115), EP/N509486/1, for the financial support.Publisher
American Chemical Society (ACS)Journal
Chemistry of MaterialsAdditional Links
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02093ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1021/acs.chemmater.0c02093