Overcoming Microstructural Limitations in Water Processed Organic Solar Cells by Engineering Customized Nanoparticulate Inks

Xie C, Classen A, Späth A, Tang X, Min J, Meyer M, Zhang C, Li N, Osvet A, Fink R, Brabec C (2018)


Publication Language: English

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2018

Journal

Publisher: Wiley-VCH Verlag

Article Number: 1702857

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.201702857

Abstract

The application of conjugated polymer and fullerene water-based nanoparticles
(NP) as ecofriendly inks for organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is
reported. A low bandgap polymer diketopyrrolopyrrole–quinquethiophene
(PDPP5T-2) and the methanofullerene PC71BM are processed into three types
of nanoparticles: pristine fullerene NPs, pristine polymer NPs, and mixed
polymer:fullerene NPs, allowing the formation of bulk heterojunction (BHJ)
composites with different domain sizes. Mild thermal annealing is required
to melt the nanospheres and enable the formation of interconnected pathways
within mixed phases. This BHJ is accompanied by a shrinkage of film,
whereas the more compact layers show enhanced mobility. Consistently
reduced recombination and better performance are found for mixed NP, containing
both, the polymer and the fullerene within a single NP. The optimized
solar cell processed by ultrasmall NPs delivers a power conversion efficiency
of about 3.4%. This is among the highest values reported for aqueous processed
OPVs but still lacks performance compared to those being processed
from halogenated solvents. Incomplete crystallization is identified as the main
root for reduced efficiency. It is nevertheless believed that postprocessing
does not cut attraction from printing aqueous organic NP inks as a trendsetting
strategy for the reliable and ecofriendly production of organic solar cells.

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How to cite

APA:

Xie, C., Classen, A., Späth, A., Tang, X., Min, J., Meyer, M.,... Brabec, C. (2018). Overcoming Microstructural Limitations in Water Processed Organic Solar Cells by Engineering Customized Nanoparticulate Inks. Advanced Energy Materials. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201702857

MLA:

Xie, Chen, et al. "Overcoming Microstructural Limitations in Water Processed Organic Solar Cells by Engineering Customized Nanoparticulate Inks." Advanced Energy Materials (2018).

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