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Molecular weight dependent vertical composition profiles of PCDTBT:PC71BM blends for organic photovoltaics

Kingsley, James W.; Marchisio, Pier Paolo; Yi, Hunan; Iraqi, Ahmed; Kinane, Christy J.; Langridge, Sean; Thompson, Richard L.; Cadby, Ashley J.; Pearson, Andrew J.; Lidzey, David G.; Jones, Richard A.L.; Parnell, Andrew J.

Molecular weight dependent vertical composition profiles of PCDTBT:PC71BM blends for organic photovoltaics Thumbnail


Authors

James W. Kingsley

Pier Paolo Marchisio

Hunan Yi

Ahmed Iraqi

Christy J. Kinane

Sean Langridge

Ashley J. Cadby

Andrew J. Pearson

David G. Lidzey

Richard A.L. Jones

Andrew J. Parnell



Abstract

We have used Soxhlet solvent purification to fractionate a broad molecular weight distribution of the polycarbazole polymer PCDTBT into three lower polydispersity molecular weight fractions. Organic photovoltaic devices were made using a blend of the fullerene acceptor PC71BM with the molecular weight fractions. An average power conversion efficiency of 5.89% (peak efficiency of 6.15%) was measured for PCDTBT blend devices with a number average molecular weight of Mn = 25.5 kDa. There was significant variation between the molecular weight fractions with low (Mn = 15.0 kDa) and high (Mn = 34.9 kDa) fractions producing devices with average efficiencies of 5.02% and 3.70% respectively. Neutron reflectivity measurements on these polymer:PC71BM blend layers showed that larger molecular weights leads to an increase in the polymer enrichment layer thickness at the anode interface, this improves efficiency up to a limiting point where the polymer solubility causes a reduction of the PCDTBT concentration in the active layer.

Citation

Kingsley, J. W., Marchisio, P. P., Yi, H., Iraqi, A., Kinane, C. J., Langridge, S., …Parnell, A. J. (2014). Molecular weight dependent vertical composition profiles of PCDTBT:PC71BM blends for organic photovoltaics. Scientific Reports, 4, Article 5286. https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05286

Journal Article Type Article
Publication Date Jun 13, 2014
Deposit Date Jun 17, 2014
Publicly Available Date Jun 18, 2014
Journal Scientific Reports
Publisher Nature Research
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 4
Article Number 5286
DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/srep05286

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in the credit line; if the material is not included under the Creative Commons license, users will need to obtain permission from the license holder in order to reproduce the material. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/





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