Probing Ternary Solvent Effect in High Voc Polymer Solar Cells Using Advanced AFM Techniques

Chao Li; Yi Ding; Mikhael Soliman; Josie Lorenzo; Nitesh Dhasmana; Panit Chantharasupawong; Anton V. Ievlev; Andre J. Gesquiere; Laurene Tetard; Jayan Thomas

doi:10.1021/acsami.5b12260

Probing Ternary Solvent Effect in High V_oc Polymer Solar Cells Using Advanced AFM Techniques

Chao Li, Yi Ding, Mikhael Soliman, Josie Lorenzo, Nitesh Dhasmana, Panit Chantharasupawong, Anton V. Ievlev, Andre J. Gesquiere, Laurene Tetard, Jayan Thomas

Functional Atomic Force Microscopy Group

University of Central Florida

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

This work describes a simple method to develop a high V_oc low band gap PSCs. In addition, two new atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoscale characterization techniques to study the surface morphology and physical properties of the structured active layer are introduced. With the help of ternary solvent processing of the active layer and C₆₀ buffer layer, a bulk heterojunction PSC with V_oc more than 0.9 V and conversion efficiency 7.5% is developed. In order to understand the fundamental properties of the materials ruling the performance of the PSCs tested, AFM-based nanoscale characterization techniques including Pulsed-Force-Mode AFM (PFM-AFM) and Mode-Synthesizing AFM (MSAFM) are introduced. Interestingly, MSAFM exhibits high sensitivity for direct visualization of the donor-acceptor phases in the active layer of the PSCs. Finally, conductive-AFM (cAFM) studies reveal local variations in conductivity in the donor and acceptor phases as well as a significant increase in photocurrent in the PTB7:ICBA sample obtained with the ternary solvent processing.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	4730-4738
Number of pages	9
Journal	ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume	8
Issue number	7
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.5b12260
State	Published - Feb 24 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Chemical Society.

Keywords

cascade charge transfer
donor-acceptor phases
high V
polymer solar cell
ternary solvent

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1021/acsami.5b12260

Cite this

@article{b88fd9fac3b64068aa7277abd7bb1198,

title = "Probing Ternary Solvent Effect in High Voc Polymer Solar Cells Using Advanced AFM Techniques",

abstract = "This work describes a simple method to develop a high Voc low band gap PSCs. In addition, two new atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoscale characterization techniques to study the surface morphology and physical properties of the structured active layer are introduced. With the help of ternary solvent processing of the active layer and C60 buffer layer, a bulk heterojunction PSC with Voc more than 0.9 V and conversion efficiency 7.5% is developed. In order to understand the fundamental properties of the materials ruling the performance of the PSCs tested, AFM-based nanoscale characterization techniques including Pulsed-Force-Mode AFM (PFM-AFM) and Mode-Synthesizing AFM (MSAFM) are introduced. Interestingly, MSAFM exhibits high sensitivity for direct visualization of the donor-acceptor phases in the active layer of the PSCs. Finally, conductive-AFM (cAFM) studies reveal local variations in conductivity in the donor and acceptor phases as well as a significant increase in photocurrent in the PTB7:ICBA sample obtained with the ternary solvent processing.",

keywords = "cascade charge transfer, donor-acceptor phases, high V, polymer solar cell, ternary solvent",

author = "Chao Li and Yi Ding and Mikhael Soliman and Josie Lorenzo and Nitesh Dhasmana and Panit Chantharasupawong and Ievlev, {Anton V.} and Gesquiere, {Andre J.} and Laurene Tetard and Jayan Thomas",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2016 American Chemical Society.",

year = "2016",

month = feb,

day = "24",

doi = "10.1021/acsami.5b12260",

language = "English",

volume = "8",

pages = "4730--4738",

journal = "ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces",

issn = "1944-8244",

publisher = "American Chemical Society",

number = "7",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Probing Ternary Solvent Effect in High Voc Polymer Solar Cells Using Advanced AFM Techniques

AU - Li, Chao

AU - Ding, Yi

AU - Soliman, Mikhael

AU - Lorenzo, Josie

AU - Dhasmana, Nitesh

AU - Chantharasupawong, Panit

AU - Ievlev, Anton V.

AU - Gesquiere, Andre J.

AU - Tetard, Laurene

AU - Thomas, Jayan

PY - 2016/2/24

Y1 - 2016/2/24

N2 - This work describes a simple method to develop a high Voc low band gap PSCs. In addition, two new atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoscale characterization techniques to study the surface morphology and physical properties of the structured active layer are introduced. With the help of ternary solvent processing of the active layer and C60 buffer layer, a bulk heterojunction PSC with Voc more than 0.9 V and conversion efficiency 7.5% is developed. In order to understand the fundamental properties of the materials ruling the performance of the PSCs tested, AFM-based nanoscale characterization techniques including Pulsed-Force-Mode AFM (PFM-AFM) and Mode-Synthesizing AFM (MSAFM) are introduced. Interestingly, MSAFM exhibits high sensitivity for direct visualization of the donor-acceptor phases in the active layer of the PSCs. Finally, conductive-AFM (cAFM) studies reveal local variations in conductivity in the donor and acceptor phases as well as a significant increase in photocurrent in the PTB7:ICBA sample obtained with the ternary solvent processing.

AB - This work describes a simple method to develop a high Voc low band gap PSCs. In addition, two new atomic force microscopy (AFM)-based nanoscale characterization techniques to study the surface morphology and physical properties of the structured active layer are introduced. With the help of ternary solvent processing of the active layer and C60 buffer layer, a bulk heterojunction PSC with Voc more than 0.9 V and conversion efficiency 7.5% is developed. In order to understand the fundamental properties of the materials ruling the performance of the PSCs tested, AFM-based nanoscale characterization techniques including Pulsed-Force-Mode AFM (PFM-AFM) and Mode-Synthesizing AFM (MSAFM) are introduced. Interestingly, MSAFM exhibits high sensitivity for direct visualization of the donor-acceptor phases in the active layer of the PSCs. Finally, conductive-AFM (cAFM) studies reveal local variations in conductivity in the donor and acceptor phases as well as a significant increase in photocurrent in the PTB7:ICBA sample obtained with the ternary solvent processing.

KW - cascade charge transfer

KW - donor-acceptor phases

KW - high V

KW - polymer solar cell

KW - ternary solvent

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84962489910&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1021/acsami.5b12260

DO - 10.1021/acsami.5b12260

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84962489910

SN - 1944-8244

VL - 8

SP - 4730

EP - 4738

JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

IS - 7

ER -