Conjugated Block Copolymer Photovoltaics with near 3% Efficiency through Microphase Separation

Organic electronic materials have the potential to impact almost every aspect of modern life including how we access information, light our homes, and power personal electronics. Nevertheless, weak intermolecular interactions and disorder at junctions of different organic materials limit the perform...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nano letters 2013-06, Vol.13 (6), p.2957-2963
Main Authors: Guo, Changhe, Lin, Yen-Hao, Witman, Matthew D, Smith, Kendall A, Wang, Cheng, Hexemer, Alexander, Strzalka, Joseph, Gomez, Enrique D, Verduzco, Rafael
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Applied sciences
Blends
Block copolymers
Cross-disciplinary physics: materials science
rheology
Devices
Electronics
Energy
Exact sciences and technology
Fullerenes and related materials
diamonds, graphite
Materials science
Methods of nanofabrication
Molecular electronics, nanoelectronics
Nanostructure
Natural energy
Photovoltaic cells
Photovoltaic conversion
Physics
Self assembly
Semiconductor electronics. Microelectronics. Optoelectronics. Solid state devices
Solar cells
Solar cells. Photoelectrochemical cells
Solar energy
Specific materials
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Summary:Organic electronic materials have the potential to impact almost every aspect of modern life including how we access information, light our homes, and power personal electronics. Nevertheless, weak intermolecular interactions and disorder at junctions of different organic materials limit the performance and stability of organic interfaces and hence the applicability of organic semiconductors to electronic devices. Here, we demonstrate control of donor–acceptor heterojunctions through microphase-separated conjugated block copolymers. When utilized as the active layer of photovoltaic cells, block copolymer-based devices demonstrate efficient photoconversion well beyond devices composed of homopolymer blends. The 3% block copolymer device efficiencies are achieved without the use of a fullerene acceptor. X-ray scattering results reveal that the remarkable performance of block copolymer solar cells is due to self-assembly into mesoscale lamellar morphologies with primarily face-on crystallite orientations. Conjugated block copolymers thus provide a pathway to enhance performance in excitonic solar cells through control of donor–acceptor interfaces.
ISSN:1530-6984
1530-6992
DOI:10.1021/nl401420s