Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation

Ting Xiao; Haihua Xu; Giulia Grancini; Jiangquan Mai; Annamaria Petrozza; U. Ser Jeng; Yan Wang; Xin Xin; Yong Lu; Ng Siu Choon; Hu Xiao; Beng ONG; Xinhui Lu; Ni Zhao

doi:10.1038/srep05211

Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation

Ting Xiao, Haihua Xu, Giulia Grancini, Jiangquan Mai, Annamaria Petrozza, U. Ser Jeng, Yan Wang, Xin Xin, Yong Lu, Ng Siu Choon, Hu Xiao, Beng ONG, Xinhui Lu^*, Ni Zhao

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Chemistry

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

32 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The interpenetrating morphology formed by the electron donor and acceptor materials is critical for the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work we carried out a systematic investigation on a high PV efficiency (>6%) BHJ system consisting of a newly developed 5,6-difluorobenzo[c] thiadiazole-based copolymer, PFBT-T20TT, and a fullerene derivative. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements reveal the lower-ordered nature of the BHJ system as well as an intermixing morphology with intercalation of fullerene molecules between the PFBT-T20TT lamella. Steady-state and transient photo-induced absorption spectroscopy reveal ultrafast charge transfer (CT) at the PFBT-T20TT/fullerene interface, indicating that the CT process is no longer limited by exciton diffusion. Furthermore, we extracted the hole mobility based on the space limited current (SCLC) model and found that more efficient hole transport is achieved in the PFBT-T20TT:fullerene BHJ as compared to pure PFBT-T20TT, showing a different trend as compared to the previously reported highly crystalline polymer:fullerene blend with a similar intercalation manner. Our study correlates the fullerene intercalated polymer lamella morphology with device performance and provides a coherent model to interpret the high photovoltaic performance of some of the recently developed weakly-ordered BHJ systems based on conjugated polymers with branched side-chain.

Original language	English
Article number	5211
Journal	Scientific Reports
Volume	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05211
Publication status	Published - 9 Jun 2014

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@article{854a676d55df400cbc697a20ceddc088,

title = "Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation",

abstract = "The interpenetrating morphology formed by the electron donor and acceptor materials is critical for the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work we carried out a systematic investigation on a high PV efficiency (>6%) BHJ system consisting of a newly developed 5,6-difluorobenzo[c] thiadiazole-based copolymer, PFBT-T20TT, and a fullerene derivative. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements reveal the lower-ordered nature of the BHJ system as well as an intermixing morphology with intercalation of fullerene molecules between the PFBT-T20TT lamella. Steady-state and transient photo-induced absorption spectroscopy reveal ultrafast charge transfer (CT) at the PFBT-T20TT/fullerene interface, indicating that the CT process is no longer limited by exciton diffusion. Furthermore, we extracted the hole mobility based on the space limited current (SCLC) model and found that more efficient hole transport is achieved in the PFBT-T20TT:fullerene BHJ as compared to pure PFBT-T20TT, showing a different trend as compared to the previously reported highly crystalline polymer:fullerene blend with a similar intercalation manner. Our study correlates the fullerene intercalated polymer lamella morphology with device performance and provides a coherent model to interpret the high photovoltaic performance of some of the recently developed weakly-ordered BHJ systems based on conjugated polymers with branched side-chain.",

author = "Ting Xiao and Haihua Xu and Giulia Grancini and Jiangquan Mai and Annamaria Petrozza and Jeng, {U. Ser} and Yan Wang and Xin Xin and Yong Lu and Choon, {Ng Siu} and Hu Xiao and Beng ONG and Xinhui Lu and Ni Zhao",

note = "Funding Information: We thank Prof. Yizheng Jin and Mr. Sai Bai from Zhejiang University for providing the ZnO precursor solution for the fabrication of the electron-only diodes. We gratefully acknowledge funding from Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Grant No. CUHK 419311), Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering (Grant no. 8115041), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61205036) and CUHK Focused Innovation Scheme B Grant {\textquoteleft}{\textquoteleft}Centre for Solar Energy Research{\textquoteright}{\textquoteright} (Grant No. 1902034). J.Q.M. and X.L. acknowledge the financial support from CUHK Direct Grant No. 4053015. Funding Information: Y.W., X.X., Y.L., N.S.C., H.X. and B.S.O. also acknowledge the financial support from A*Star of Singapore for the project Grant No. 1021700135.",

year = "2014",

month = jun,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1038/srep05211",

language = "English",

volume = "4",

journal = "Scientific Reports",

issn = "2045-2322",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

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T1 - Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation

AU - Xiao, Ting

AU - Xu, Haihua

AU - Grancini, Giulia

AU - Mai, Jiangquan

AU - Petrozza, Annamaria

AU - Jeng, U. Ser

AU - Wang, Yan

AU - Xin, Xin

AU - Lu, Yong

AU - Choon, Ng Siu

AU - Xiao, Hu

AU - ONG, Beng

AU - Lu, Xinhui

AU - Zhao, Ni

N1 - Funding Information: We thank Prof. Yizheng Jin and Mr. Sai Bai from Zhejiang University for providing the ZnO precursor solution for the fabrication of the electron-only diodes. We gratefully acknowledge funding from Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (Grant No. CUHK 419311), Shun Hing Institute of Advanced Engineering (Grant no. 8115041), National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61205036) and CUHK Focused Innovation Scheme B Grant ‘‘Centre for Solar Energy Research’’ (Grant No. 1902034). J.Q.M. and X.L. acknowledge the financial support from CUHK Direct Grant No. 4053015. Funding Information: Y.W., X.X., Y.L., N.S.C., H.X. and B.S.O. also acknowledge the financial support from A*Star of Singapore for the project Grant No. 1021700135.

PY - 2014/6/9

Y1 - 2014/6/9

N2 - The interpenetrating morphology formed by the electron donor and acceptor materials is critical for the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work we carried out a systematic investigation on a high PV efficiency (>6%) BHJ system consisting of a newly developed 5,6-difluorobenzo[c] thiadiazole-based copolymer, PFBT-T20TT, and a fullerene derivative. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements reveal the lower-ordered nature of the BHJ system as well as an intermixing morphology with intercalation of fullerene molecules between the PFBT-T20TT lamella. Steady-state and transient photo-induced absorption spectroscopy reveal ultrafast charge transfer (CT) at the PFBT-T20TT/fullerene interface, indicating that the CT process is no longer limited by exciton diffusion. Furthermore, we extracted the hole mobility based on the space limited current (SCLC) model and found that more efficient hole transport is achieved in the PFBT-T20TT:fullerene BHJ as compared to pure PFBT-T20TT, showing a different trend as compared to the previously reported highly crystalline polymer:fullerene blend with a similar intercalation manner. Our study correlates the fullerene intercalated polymer lamella morphology with device performance and provides a coherent model to interpret the high photovoltaic performance of some of the recently developed weakly-ordered BHJ systems based on conjugated polymers with branched side-chain.

AB - The interpenetrating morphology formed by the electron donor and acceptor materials is critical for the performance of polymer:fullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) cells. In this work we carried out a systematic investigation on a high PV efficiency (>6%) BHJ system consisting of a newly developed 5,6-difluorobenzo[c] thiadiazole-based copolymer, PFBT-T20TT, and a fullerene derivative. Grazing incidence X-ray scattering measurements reveal the lower-ordered nature of the BHJ system as well as an intermixing morphology with intercalation of fullerene molecules between the PFBT-T20TT lamella. Steady-state and transient photo-induced absorption spectroscopy reveal ultrafast charge transfer (CT) at the PFBT-T20TT/fullerene interface, indicating that the CT process is no longer limited by exciton diffusion. Furthermore, we extracted the hole mobility based on the space limited current (SCLC) model and found that more efficient hole transport is achieved in the PFBT-T20TT:fullerene BHJ as compared to pure PFBT-T20TT, showing a different trend as compared to the previously reported highly crystalline polymer:fullerene blend with a similar intercalation manner. Our study correlates the fullerene intercalated polymer lamella morphology with device performance and provides a coherent model to interpret the high photovoltaic performance of some of the recently developed weakly-ordered BHJ systems based on conjugated polymers with branched side-chain.

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Molecular packing and electronic processes in amorphous-like polymer bulk heterojunction solar cells with fullerene intercalation

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