Interfacial Segregation in Polymer/Fullerene Blend Films for Photovoltaic Devices

It has recently been shown that surface energy effects can cause selective segregation at the active layer interfaces of a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic device. The active layer interface composition has been suggested to impact device performance. In this study changes in the BHJ v...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Macromolecules 2010-04, Vol.43 (8), p.3828-3836
Main Authors: Germack, David S, Chan, Calvin K, Kline, R. Joseph, Fischer, Daniel A, Gundlach, David J, Toney, Michael F, Richter, Lee J, DeLongchamp, Dean M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
ABSORPTION
AIR
Application fields
Applied sciences
ELLIPSOMETRY
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
FINE STRUCTURE
HETEROJUNCTIONS
MATERIALS SCIENCE
national synchrotron light source
Natural energy
Photovoltaic conversion
Polymer industry, paints, wood
SEGREGATION
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
SPECTROSCOPY
SURFACE ENERGY
Technology of polymers
TRANSPORT
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:It has recently been shown that surface energy effects can cause selective segregation at the active layer interfaces of a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic device. The active layer interface composition has been suggested to impact device performance. In this study changes in the BHJ vertical composition profile of BHJ active layers cast on two hole transport layers (HTL) with significantly different surface energies (γ) are characterized using spectroscopic ellipsometry and near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy. Changes in the HTL γ are shown to significantly affect the BHJ interfacial segregation at the buried interface near the HTL while the composition near the free surface (air) of the BHJ is unaffected. Despite the significant differences in vertical segregation at the HTL interface, the performances of the resulting organic photovoltaic devices were relatively similar.
ISSN:0024-9297
1520-5835
DOI:10.1021/ma100027b