Journal article 954 views 120 downloads
Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
Communications Physics, Volume: 2, Issue: 1
Swansea University Author:
Anthony Higgins
-
PDF | Version of Record
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License,
Download (2.75MB)
DOI (Published version): 10.1038/s42005-019-0211-z
Abstract
Domain composition and interfacial structure are critical factors in organic photovoltaic performance. Here, we report neutron reflectivity, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements of polymer/fullerene thin-films to test a hypothesis that these partially miscible...
| Published in: | Communications Physics |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 2399-3650 |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2019
|
| Online Access: |
Check full text
|
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51432 |
| Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
| Abstract: |
Domain composition and interfacial structure are critical factors in organic photovoltaic performance. Here, we report neutron reflectivity, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction and atomic force microscopy measurements of polymer/fullerene thin-films to test a hypothesis that these partially miscible blends rapidly develop composition profiles consisting of co-existing phases in liquid-liquid equilibrium. We study a range of polymer molecular weights between 2 and 300 kg mol−1, annealing temperatures between 120 and 170 oC, and timescales up to 10 min, yielding over 50 distinct measurement conditions. Model bilayers of fullerene-derivatives and polystyrene enable a rigorous examination of theoretical predictions of the effect of polymer mass and interaction parameter on the compositions, ϕ, and interfacial width, w, of the coexistent phases. We independently measure ϕ and w and find that both Flory-Huggins mean-field-theory and key aspects of self-consistent-field-theory are remarkably consistent with experiment. Our findings pave the way for predictive composition and interface design in organic photovoltaics based on simple experimental measurements and equilibrium thermodynamic theory. |
|---|---|
| Issue: |
1 |