Thermally stable bulk heterojunction prepared by sequential deposition of nanostructured polymer and fullerene

Heewon Hwang; Hoyeon Lee; Shafidah Shafian; Wooseop Lee; Jeesoo Seok; Ka Yeon Ryu; Du Yeol Ryu; Kyungkon Kim

doi:10.3390/polym9090456

Thermally stable bulk heterojunction prepared by sequential deposition of nanostructured polymer and fullerene

Heewon Hwang
, Hoyeon Lee
, Shafidah Shafian
, Wooseop Lee
, Jeesoo Seok
, Ka Yeon Ryu
, Du Yeol Ryu
, Kyungkon Kim

Department of Chemistry & Nanoscience

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

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

A morphologically-stable polymer/fullerene heterojunction has been prepared by minimizing the intermixing between polymer and fullerene via sequential deposition (SqD) of a polymer and a fullerene solution. A low crystalline conjugated polymer of PCPDTBT (poly[2,6-(4,4- bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b0]dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]) has been utilized for the polymer layer and PC₇₁BM (phenyl-C₇₁-butyric-acid-methyl ester) for the fullerene layer, respectively. Firstly, a nanostructured PCPDTBT bottom layer was developed by utilizing various additives to increase the surface area of the polymer film. The PC₇₁BM solution was prepared by dissolving it in the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), exhibiting a lower vapor pressure and slower diffusion into the polymer layer. The deposition of the PC₇₁BM solution on the nanostructured PCPDTBT layer forms an inter-digitated bulk heterojunction (ID-BHJ) with minimized intermixing. The organic photovoltaic (OPV) device utilizing the ID-BHJ photoactive layer exhibits a highly reproducible solar cell performance. In spite of restricted intermixing between the PC₇₁BM and the PCPDTBT, the efficiency of ID-BHJ OPVs (3.36%) is comparable to that of OPVs (3.87%) prepared by the conventional method (deposition of a blended solution of polymer:fullerene). The thermal stability of the ID-BHJ is superior to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) prepared by the conventional method. The ID-BHJ OPV maintains 70% of its initial efficiency after thermal stress application for twelve days at 80 °C, whereas the conventional BHJ OPV maintains only 40% of its initial efficiency.

Original language	English
Article number	456
Journal	Polymers
Volume	9
Issue number	9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.3390/polym9090456
State	Published - 17 Sep 2017

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Acknowledgments: This research was supported by NRF under the program numbers NRF-2015M1A2A2057506 and NRF-2016M1A2A2940914 and by the New & Renewable Energy Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), who granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 20123010010140 and 20163030013900). The authors thank Mr. Sungmin Park and Mr. Yeongsik Kim for assistance with the GIWAXS characterization. The X-ray experiments at PLS-II (Beamline 9A U-SAXS), Korea, were supported in part by MSIP and POSTECH.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2017 by the authors.

Keywords

Bulk heterojunction
Organic solar cell
Sequential deposition
Stability

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10.3390/polym9090456

Cite this

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title = "Thermally stable bulk heterojunction prepared by sequential deposition of nanostructured polymer and fullerene",

abstract = "A morphologically-stable polymer/fullerene heterojunction has been prepared by minimizing the intermixing between polymer and fullerene via sequential deposition (SqD) of a polymer and a fullerene solution. A low crystalline conjugated polymer of PCPDTBT (poly[2,6-(4,4- bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b0]dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]) has been utilized for the polymer layer and PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl ester) for the fullerene layer, respectively. Firstly, a nanostructured PCPDTBT bottom layer was developed by utilizing various additives to increase the surface area of the polymer film. The PC71BM solution was prepared by dissolving it in the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), exhibiting a lower vapor pressure and slower diffusion into the polymer layer. The deposition of the PC71BM solution on the nanostructured PCPDTBT layer forms an inter-digitated bulk heterojunction (ID-BHJ) with minimized intermixing. The organic photovoltaic (OPV) device utilizing the ID-BHJ photoactive layer exhibits a highly reproducible solar cell performance. In spite of restricted intermixing between the PC71BM and the PCPDTBT, the efficiency of ID-BHJ OPVs (3.36\%) is comparable to that of OPVs (3.87\%) prepared by the conventional method (deposition of a blended solution of polymer:fullerene). The thermal stability of the ID-BHJ is superior to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) prepared by the conventional method. The ID-BHJ OPV maintains 70\% of its initial efficiency after thermal stress application for twelve days at 80 °C, whereas the conventional BHJ OPV maintains only 40\% of its initial efficiency.",

keywords = "Bulk heterojunction, Organic solar cell, Sequential deposition, Stability",

author = "Heewon Hwang and Hoyeon Lee and Shafidah Shafian and Wooseop Lee and Jeesoo Seok and Ryu, \{Ka Yeon\} and Ryu, \{Du Yeol\} and Kyungkon Kim",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This research was supported by NRF under the program numbers NRF-2015M1A2A2057506 and NRF-2016M1A2A2940914 and by the New \& Renewable Energy Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), who granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry \& Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 20123010010140 and 20163030013900). The authors thank Mr. Sungmin Park and Mr. Yeongsik Kim for assistance with the GIWAXS characterization. The X-ray experiments at PLS-II (Beamline 9A U-SAXS), Korea, were supported in part by MSIP and POSTECH. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2017 by the authors.",

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doi = "10.3390/polym9090456",

language = "English",

volume = "9",

journal = "Polymers",

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T1 - Thermally stable bulk heterojunction prepared by sequential deposition of nanostructured polymer and fullerene

AU - Hwang, Heewon

AU - Lee, Hoyeon

AU - Shafian, Shafidah

AU - Lee, Wooseop

AU - Seok, Jeesoo

AU - Ryu, Ka Yeon

AU - Ryu, Du Yeol

AU - Kim, Kyungkon

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments: This research was supported by NRF under the program numbers NRF-2015M1A2A2057506 and NRF-2016M1A2A2940914 and by the New & Renewable Energy Core Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), who granted financial resources from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 20123010010140 and 20163030013900). The authors thank Mr. Sungmin Park and Mr. Yeongsik Kim for assistance with the GIWAXS characterization. The X-ray experiments at PLS-II (Beamline 9A U-SAXS), Korea, were supported in part by MSIP and POSTECH. Publisher Copyright: © 2017 by the authors.

PY - 2017/9/17

Y1 - 2017/9/17

N2 - A morphologically-stable polymer/fullerene heterojunction has been prepared by minimizing the intermixing between polymer and fullerene via sequential deposition (SqD) of a polymer and a fullerene solution. A low crystalline conjugated polymer of PCPDTBT (poly[2,6-(4,4- bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b0]dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]) has been utilized for the polymer layer and PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl ester) for the fullerene layer, respectively. Firstly, a nanostructured PCPDTBT bottom layer was developed by utilizing various additives to increase the surface area of the polymer film. The PC71BM solution was prepared by dissolving it in the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), exhibiting a lower vapor pressure and slower diffusion into the polymer layer. The deposition of the PC71BM solution on the nanostructured PCPDTBT layer forms an inter-digitated bulk heterojunction (ID-BHJ) with minimized intermixing. The organic photovoltaic (OPV) device utilizing the ID-BHJ photoactive layer exhibits a highly reproducible solar cell performance. In spite of restricted intermixing between the PC71BM and the PCPDTBT, the efficiency of ID-BHJ OPVs (3.36%) is comparable to that of OPVs (3.87%) prepared by the conventional method (deposition of a blended solution of polymer:fullerene). The thermal stability of the ID-BHJ is superior to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) prepared by the conventional method. The ID-BHJ OPV maintains 70% of its initial efficiency after thermal stress application for twelve days at 80 °C, whereas the conventional BHJ OPV maintains only 40% of its initial efficiency.

AB - A morphologically-stable polymer/fullerene heterojunction has been prepared by minimizing the intermixing between polymer and fullerene via sequential deposition (SqD) of a polymer and a fullerene solution. A low crystalline conjugated polymer of PCPDTBT (poly[2,6-(4,4- bis-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b0]dithiophene)-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]) has been utilized for the polymer layer and PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl ester) for the fullerene layer, respectively. Firstly, a nanostructured PCPDTBT bottom layer was developed by utilizing various additives to increase the surface area of the polymer film. The PC71BM solution was prepared by dissolving it in the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE), exhibiting a lower vapor pressure and slower diffusion into the polymer layer. The deposition of the PC71BM solution on the nanostructured PCPDTBT layer forms an inter-digitated bulk heterojunction (ID-BHJ) with minimized intermixing. The organic photovoltaic (OPV) device utilizing the ID-BHJ photoactive layer exhibits a highly reproducible solar cell performance. In spite of restricted intermixing between the PC71BM and the PCPDTBT, the efficiency of ID-BHJ OPVs (3.36%) is comparable to that of OPVs (3.87%) prepared by the conventional method (deposition of a blended solution of polymer:fullerene). The thermal stability of the ID-BHJ is superior to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) prepared by the conventional method. The ID-BHJ OPV maintains 70% of its initial efficiency after thermal stress application for twelve days at 80 °C, whereas the conventional BHJ OPV maintains only 40% of its initial efficiency.

KW - Bulk heterojunction

KW - Organic solar cell

KW - Sequential deposition

KW - Stability

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85029781977

U2 - 10.3390/polym9090456

DO - 10.3390/polym9090456

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85029781977

SN - 2073-4360

VL - 9

JO - Polymers

JF - Polymers

IS - 9

M1 - 456

ER -

Thermally stable bulk heterojunction prepared by sequential deposition of nanostructured polymer and fullerene

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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