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Correlating the Phase Behavior with the Device Performance in Binary Poly-3-hexylthiophene: Nonfullerene Acceptor Blend Using Optical Probes of the Microstructure
- Source :
- Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname, Chemistry of Materials
- Publication Year :
- 2020
- Publisher :
- American Chemical Society, 2020.
-
Abstract
- The performance of photovoltaic devices based on blends of conjugated polymers with nonfullerene acceptors depends on the phase behavior 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 the molecular structure, composition, phase behavior, and device performance of a model system consisting of semicrystalline poly-3-hexylthiophene (P3HT) as the donor polymer and three nonfullerene acceptors, two of which (O-IDTBR/EH-IDTBR) have a planar core with different side chains and one (O-IDFBR) of which has a twisted core. We combine differential scanning calorimetry with optical measurements including UV–Vis spectroscopy, photoluminescence, spectroscopic ellipsometry, and Raman spectroscopy and photovoltaic device performance measurements, all at varying blend composition. For P3HT:IDTBR blends, the crystallinity of polymer and acceptor is preserved over a wide composition range and the blend displays a eutectic phase behavior, with the optimum solar cell composition lying close to the eutectic composition. 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 composition. The optical probes allow us to probe both the crystalline and amorphous phases, clearly revealing the compositions at which component mixing disrupts crystallinity.<br />E.R. is grateful to the Fonds de Recherche du Quebec-Nature et technologies (FRQNT) for a postdoctoral fellowship and acknowledges the financial support from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology. J.N. acknowledges the financial support from the Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (grants nos. EP/P005543/1, EP/ R023581/1, and EP/P032591/1) and from the European Research Council for funding (grant agreement no. 742708). J.N. and E.R. thank the Helmholtz Foundation for a Helmholtz International Fellow Award. A.A.Y.G. thanks the EPSRC for a postdoctoral fellowship award (grant no. EP/P00928X/1). The authors at ICMAB would like to acknowledge the 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), and EP/N509486/1 for the financial support.
- Subjects :
- Polymers
General Chemical Engineering
European research
Organic polymers
Library science
02 engineering and technology
General Chemistry
010402 general chemistry
021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology
7. Clean energy
01 natural sciences
09 Engineering
0104 chemical sciences
Research council
Political science
Raman spectroscopy
Materials Chemistry
Christian ministry
Microstructures
03 Chemical Sciences
0210 nano-technology
Materials
Crystallinity
Subjects
Details
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Digital.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC, instname, Chemistry of Materials
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c791523f9804ab5ee9f64e929c9eb441