In-Plane Alignment in Organic Solar Cells to Probe the Morphological Dependence of Charge Recombination

被引:13
作者
Awartani, Omar [1 ]
Kudenov, Michael W. [2 ]
Kline, R. Joseph [3 ]
O'Connor, Brendan T. [1 ]
机构
[1] N Carolina State Univ, Dept Mech & Aerosp Engn, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA
[2] N Carolina State Univ, Dept Elect & Comp Engn, Raleigh, NC 27695 USA
[3] NIST, Mat Sci & Engn Div, Gaithersburg, MD 20899 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
POLYMER PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS; THIN-FILMS; TRANSPORT; ABSORPTION; POLYTHIOPHENE; GENERATION;
D O I
10.1002/adfm.201403377
中图分类号
O6 [化学];
学科分类号
0703 ;
摘要
Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells are fabricated with the polymer semiconductor aligned in the plane of the film to probe charge recombination losses associated with aggregates characterized by varying degrees of local order. 100% uniaxial strain is applied on ductile poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) BHJ films and characterize the resulting morphology with ultraviolet-visible absorption spectroscopy and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction. It is found that the strained films result in strong alignment of the highly ordered polymer aggregates. Polymer aggregates with lower order and amorphous regions also align but with a much broader orientation distribution. The solar cells are then tested under linearly polarized light where the light is selectively absorbed by the appropriately oriented polymer, while maintaining a common local environment for the sweep out of photogenerated charge carriers. Results show that charge collection losses associated with a disordered BHJ film are circumvented, and the internal quantum efficiency is independent of P3HT local aggregate order near the heterojunction interface. Uniquely, this experimental approach allows for selective excitation of distinct morphological features of a conjugated polymer within a single BHJ film, providing insight into the morphological origin of recombination losses.
引用
收藏
页码:1296 / 1303
页数:8
相关论文
共 34 条
[1]   Organic photodetector with spectral response tunable across the visible spectrum by means of internal optical microcavity [J].
An, Kwang Hyup ;
O'Connor, Brendan ;
Pipe, Kevin P. ;
Shtein, Max .
ORGANIC ELECTRONICS, 2009, 10 (06) :1152-1157
[2]   Organic photovoltaic cells with controlled polarization sensitivity [J].
Awartani, Omar ;
Kudenov, Michael W. ;
O'Connor, Brendan T. .
APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 2014, 104 (09)
[3]   Correlating Stiffness, Ductility, and Morphology of Polymer:Fullerene Films for Solar Cell Applications [J].
Awartani, Omar ;
Lemanski, Bethany I. ;
Ro, Hyun Wook ;
Richter, Lee J. ;
DeLongchamp, Dean M. ;
O'Connor, Brendan T. .
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS, 2013, 3 (03) :399-406
[4]   The Importance of Fullerene Percolation in the Mixed Regions of Polymer-Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells [J].
Bartelt, Jonathan A. ;
Beiley, Zach M. ;
Hoke, Eric T. ;
Mateker, William R. ;
Douglas, Jessica D. ;
Collins, Brian A. ;
Tumbleston, John R. ;
Graham, Kenneth R. ;
Amassian, Aram ;
Ade, Harald ;
Frechet, Jean M. J. ;
Toney, Michael F. ;
McGehee, Michael D. .
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS, 2013, 3 (03) :364-374
[5]   Accounting for Interference, Scattering, and Electrode Absorption to Make Accurate Internal Quantum Efficiency Measurements in Organic and Other Thin Solar Cells [J].
Burkhard, George F. ;
Hoke, Eric T. ;
McGehee, Michael D. .
ADVANCED MATERIALS, 2010, 22 (30) :3293-+
[6]   Incomplete Exciton Harvesting from Fullerenes in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells [J].
Burkhard, George F. ;
Hoke, Eric T. ;
Scully, Shawn R. ;
McGehee, Michael D. .
NANO LETTERS, 2009, 9 (12) :4037-4041
[7]   Free Energy Control of Charge Photogeneration in Polythiophene/Fullerene Solar Cells: The Influence of Thermal Annealing on P3HT/PCBM Blends [J].
Clarke, Tracey M. ;
Ballantyne, Amy M. ;
Nelson, Jenny ;
Bradley, Donal D. C. ;
Durrant, James R. .
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 2008, 18 (24) :4029-4035
[8]   Identifying a Threshold Impurity Level for Organic Solar Cells: Enhanced First-Order Recombination Via Well-Defined PC84BM Traps in Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells [J].
Cowan, Sarah R. ;
Leong, Wei Lin ;
Banerji, Natalie ;
Dennler, Gilles ;
Heeger, Alan J. .
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS, 2011, 21 (16) :3083-3092
[9]   Recombination in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells [J].
Cowan, Sarah R. ;
Roy, Anshuman ;
Heeger, Alan J. .
PHYSICAL REVIEW B, 2010, 82 (24)
[10]   Origin of the Efficient Polaron-Pair Dissociation in Polymer-Fullerene Blends [J].
Deibel, Carsten ;
Strobel, Thomas ;
Dyakonov, Vladimir .
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 2009, 103 (03)