Quantitative insights into the phase behaviour and miscibility of organic photovoltaic active layers from the perspective of neutron spectroscopy

We present a neutron spectroscopy based method to study quantitatively the partial miscibility and phase behaviour of an organic photovoltaic active layer made of conjugated polymer:small molecule blends, presently illustrated with the regio-random poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and fullerene [6,6]...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of materials chemistry. C, Materials for optical and electronic devices Materials for optical and electronic devices, 2021-09, Vol.9 (35), p.11873-11881
Main Authors: Zbiri, Mohamed, Finn, Peter A, Nielsen, Christian B, Guilbert, Anne A. Y
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Butyric acid
Deuteration
Dynamic structural analysis
Elastic scattering
Fullerenes
Inelastic scattering
Miscibility
Neutron scattering
Neutrons
Nuclear cross sections
Polymer blends
Polymers
Scattering cross sections
Spectrum analysis
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:We present a neutron spectroscopy based method to study quantitatively the partial miscibility and phase behaviour of an organic photovoltaic active layer made of conjugated polymer:small molecule blends, presently illustrated with the regio-random poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and fullerene [6,6]-phenyl C 61 butyric acid methyl ester (RRa-P3HT:PCBM) system. We perform both inelastic neutron scattering and quasi-elastic neutron scattering measurements to study the structural dynamics of blends of different compositions enabling us to resolve the phase behaviour. The difference of neutron cross sections between RRa-P3HT and PCBM, and the use of deuteration technique, offer a unique opportunity to probe the miscibility limit of fullerene in the amorphous polymer-rich phase and to tune the contrast between the polymer and the fullerene phases, respectively. Therefore, the proposed approach should be universal and relevant to study new non-fullerene acceptors that are closely related - in terms of chemical structures - to the polymer, where other conventional imaging and spectroscopic techniques present a poor contrast between the blend components. Neutron spectroscopy as a master microscopic probe of the composition-dependent phase behaviour and miscibility of organic solar cell active layers.
ISSN:2050-7526
2050-7534
DOI:10.1039/d1tc01813b