Correlation between Phase-Separated Domain Sizes of Active Layer and Photovoltaic Performances in All-Polymer Solar Cells

• DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.6b01069
• Publication Date: 2016-07-07T20:17:29Z
• Authors: Changyeon Lee; Yuxiang Li; Wonho Lee; Youngmin Lee; Joonhyeong Choi; Taesu Kim; Cheng Wang; Enrique D. Gomez; Han Young Woo; Bumjoon J. Kim
• Keywords: 7. Clean energy; 01 natural sciences; 0104 chemical sciences

The control of the bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) morphology in polymer/polymer blends remains a critical hurdle for optimizing all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). The relationship between donor/acceptor phase separation, domain size, and the resulting photovoltaic characteristics of PDFQx3T and P(NDI2OD-T2)-based all-PSCs was investigated. We varied the film-processing solvents (chloroform, chlorobenzene, o-dichlorobenzene, and p-xylene), thereby manipulating the phase separation of all-polymer blends with the domain size in the range of 30–300 nm. The different volatility and solubility of the solvents strongly influenced the aggregation of the polymers and the BHJ morphology of polymer blends. Domain sizes of all-polymer blends were closely correlated with the short-circuit current density (JSC) of the devices, while the open-circuit voltage (0.80 V) and fill factor (0.60) were unaffected. All-PSCs with the smallest domain size of ∼30 nm in the active layer (using chloroform), which is commensurate with the...