Manipulating the Morphologyof P3HT–PCBM BulkHeterojunction Blends with Solvent Vapor Annealing.
- Resource Type
- Article
- Authors
- Verploegen, Eric; Miller, Chad E.; Schmidt, Kristin; Bao, Zhenan; Toney, Michael F.
- Source
- Chemistry of Materials. Oct2012, Vol. 24 Issue 20, p3923-3931. 9p.
- Subject
- *HETEROJUNCTIONS
*GRAZING incidence
*SEMICONDUCTOR films
*X-ray scattering
*ESTERS
*POLYMER blends
*ANNEALING of semiconductors
- Language
- ISSN
- 0897-4756
Using grazing incidence X-ray scattering, we observethe effectsof solvent vapors upon the morphology of poly(3-hexylthiophene)–phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT–PCBM) bulk heterojunctionthin film blends in real time; allowing us to observe morphologicalrearrangements that occur during this process as a function of solvent.We detail the swelling of the P3HT crystallites upon the introductionof solvent and the resulting changes in the P3HT crystallite morphology.We also demonstrate the ability for tetrahydrofuran vapor to inducecrystallinity in PCBM domains. Additionally, we measure the nanoscalephase segregated domain size as a function of solvent vapor annealingand correlate this to the changes observed in the crystallite morphologyof each component. Finally, we discuss the implications of the morphologicalchanges induced by solvent vapor annealing on the device propertiesof BHJ solar cells. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]