Morphology evolution of spin-coated films of poly(thiophene-phenylene- thiophene) and [6,6]-Phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester by solvent effect

Shu Hua Chan, Yu Sheng Hsiao, Ling I. Hung, Gue Wuu Hwang, Hsin Lung Chen, Ching Ting*, Chih Ping Chen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes the influence of the solvent on the morphological evolution and performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on blended films of poly(thiophene-phenylene-thiophene) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM). The blends are spin-coated with solvents exhibiting various evaporation rates, including o-dichlorobenzene (DCB), chlorobenzene (CB), chloroform (CF), and tetralin. The changing morphologies of these blended films are monitored using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A solvent having a higher boiling point [1,8-octanedithiol (OT)] is also introduced as an additive to further fine-tune the morphology of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ). We demonstrate herein that the morphology of a blend-and, hence, the performance of a BHJ device - can be manipulated by controlling the rate of solvent evaporation during film formation. The resulted fine-scale phase separation leads to enhanced performance of such organic photovoltaic devices. The highest power efficiency for our PSCs (5.8%, AM 1.5G irradiation (100 mW/cm2)) resulted when we use DCB as the solvent with OT as a processing additive.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)3399-3405
Number of pages7
JournalMacromolecules
Volume43
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 13 04 2010
Externally publishedYes

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