High efficiency and stability small molecule solar cells developed by bulk microstructure fine-tuning

Min J, Jiao X, Sgobba V, Kan B, Heumüller T, Rechberger S, Spiecker E, Guldi DM, Wan X, Chen Y, Ade H, Brabec C (2016)

Publication Status: Published

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2016

Journal

Nano Energy Elsevier

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Book Volume: 28

Pages Range: 241-249

DOI: 10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.08.047

Abstract

Morphological control over the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) microstructure of a high-efficiency small molecule photovoltaic system composed of a quinquethiophene based molecule (DRCN5T) as electron donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) as electron acceptor is demonstrated using three different post-processing strategies, including thermal annealing (TA), solvent vapor annealing (SVA), and two-step annealing (TA-SVA) treatments. We systematically analyze the processing condition-microstructure-device property relationships, explore the corresponding morphology evolution and their effects on carrier transport and recombination dynamics in BI-Js as well as understand the nature of phase-separation process resulting in light-induced degradation mechanisms. Within the investigated results, the causative relations between annealing sequence, photovoltaic parameters, morphology evolution and charge carrier dynamics are for the first time delineated. In addition, the observed trade-offs in device efficiency and stability with respect to the well-defined morphologies are highlighted. The in-depth picture of the bulk microstructure formation and its kinetic evolution as a function of the specific post-processing approaches is a valuable asset for the design of new photovoltaic materials and thin film nanoscale architectures that are more efficient and better aid future commercialization efforts. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Authors with CRIS profile

Jie Min Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) (i-MEET) Thomas Heumüller Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) (i-MEET) Stefanie Rechberger Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Mikro- und Nanostrukturforschung) Erdmann Spiecker Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Mikro- und Nanostrukturforschung) Dirk Michael Guldi Lehrstuhl für Physikalische Chemie I Christoph Brabec Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) (i-MEET)

Additional Organisation(s)

Exzellenz-Cluster Engineering of Advanced Materials (EAM) Lehrstuhl für Werkstoffwissenschaften (Mikro- und Nanostrukturforschung) Interdisziplinäres Zentrum, Center for Nanoanalysis and Electron Microscopy (CENEM)

Involved external institutions

Nankai University (NKU) / 南开大学 CN China (CN) North Carolina State University US United States (USA) (US) Bayerisches Zentrum für Angewandte Energieforschung e.V. (ZAE Bayern) DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Min, J., Jiao, X., Sgobba, V., Kan, B., Heumüller, T., Rechberger, S.,... Brabec, C. (2016). High efficiency and stability small molecule solar cells developed by bulk microstructure fine-tuning. Nano Energy, 28, 241-249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2016.08.047

MLA:

Min, Jie, et al. "High efficiency and stability small molecule solar cells developed by bulk microstructure fine-tuning." Nano Energy 28 (2016): 241-249.

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