Additive-assisted supramolecular manipulation of polymer:fullerene blend phase morphologies and its influence on photophysical processes

E. Buchaca-Domingo; A. J. Ferguson; F. C. Jamieson; T. McCarthy-Ward; S. Shoaee; J. R. Tumbleston; O. G. Reid; L. Yu; M.-B. Madec; M. Pfannmöller; F. Hermerschmidt; R. R. Schröder; S. E. Watkins; N. Kopidakis; G. Portale; A. Amassian; M. Heeney; H. Ade; G. Rumbles; J. R. Durrant; N. Stingelin

doi:10.1039/C3MH00125C

Additive-assisted supramolecular manipulation of polymer:fullerene blend phase morphologies and its influence on photophysical processes†

E. Buchaca-Domingo,*^a A. J. Ferguson,*^b F. C. Jamieson,^c T. McCarthy-Ward,^c S. Shoaee,^c J. R. Tumbleston,^d O. G. Reid,^b L. Yu,^e M.-B. Madec,^cf M. Pfannmöller,^g F. Hermerschmidt,^a R. R. Schröder,^gh S. E. Watkins,ⁱ N. Kopidakis,^b G. Portale,^j A. Amassian,^e M. Heeney,^c H. Ade,^d G. Rumbles,^bk J. R. Durrant^c and N. Stingelin^a

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* Corresponding authors

^a Department of Materials and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK
E-mail: e.buchaca-domingo@imperial.ac.uk

^b Chemical and Materials Science Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado, USA
E-mail: andrew.ferguson@nrel.gov

^c Department of Chemistry and Centre for Plastic Electronics, Imperial College London, London, UK

^d Department of Physics, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

^e Division of Physical Sciences and Engineering, Solar and Photovoltaic Engineering Research Center, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Saudi Arabia

^f Solvay Interox, Warrington, UK

^g CellNetworks, BioQuant, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany

^h InnovationLab GmbH, Heidelberg, Germany

ⁱ CSIRO Materials Science and Engineering, Clayton, VIC, Australia

^j DUBBLE CRG BM26@ESRF, Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research, Horowitz, Grenoble, France

^k Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA

Abstract

It is well known that even small variations in the solid-state microstructure of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunctions can drastically change their organic solar cell device performance. We employ pBTTT:PC₆₁BM as a model system and manipulate co-crystal formation of 1 : 1 (by weight) blends with the assistance of fatty acid methyl esters as additives. This allows us to evaluate the role of the intermixed phase in such binary blends through manipulation of their phase morphology—from fully intercalated to partially and predominantly non-intercalated systems—and its effect on the exciton- and carrier- dynamics and the efficiency of charge collection, with relevance for future device design and manufacturing.

Materials Horizons

Additive-assisted supramolecular manipulation of polymer:fullerene blend phase morphologies and its influence on photophysical processes†

Abstract

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