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Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films

E. L. Hynes, J. T. Cabral, A. J. Parnell, P. Gutfreund, R. J. L. Welbourn, A. D. F. Dunbar, D. Môn, A. M. Higgins, Anthony Higgins Orcid Logo

Communications Physics, Volume: 2, Issue: 1

Swansea University Author: Anthony Higgins Orcid Logo

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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...

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Published in: Communications Physics
ISSN: 2399-3650
Published: Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2019
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa51432
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first_indexed 2019-08-16T15:30:31Z
last_indexed 2020-07-21T13:12:39Z
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spelling 2020-07-21T12:43:58.3093995 v2 51432 2019-08-16 Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a 0000-0003-2804-8164 Anthony Higgins Anthony Higgins true false 2019-08-16 MEDE 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. Journal Article Communications Physics 2 1 Springer Science and Business Media LLC 2399-3650 16 9 2019 2019-09-16 10.1038/s42005-019-0211-z COLLEGE NANME Biomedical Engineering COLLEGE CODE MEDE Swansea University 2020-07-21T12:43:58.3093995 2019-08-16T09:34:23.5550902 E. L. Hynes 1 J. T. Cabral 2 A. J. Parnell 3 P. Gutfreund 4 R. J. L. Welbourn 5 A. D. F. Dunbar 6 D. Môn 7 A. M. Higgins 8 Anthony Higgins 0000-0003-2804-8164 9 51432__15566__5fb100c397a94f45857ee18b6af4646c.pdf hynes2019.pdf 2019-10-11T15:55:15.9030000 Output 2886085 application/pdf Version of Record true 2019-10-11T00:00:00.0000000 This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, true eng http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.
title Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
spellingShingle Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
Anthony Higgins
title_short Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
title_full Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
title_fullStr Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
title_full_unstemmed Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
title_sort Interfacial width and phase equilibrium in polymer-fullerene thin-films
author_id_str_mv 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a
author_id_fullname_str_mv 4db715667aa7bdc04e87b3ab696d206a_***_Anthony Higgins
author Anthony Higgins
author2 E. L. Hynes
J. T. Cabral
A. J. Parnell
P. Gutfreund
R. J. L. Welbourn
A. D. F. Dunbar
D. Môn
A. M. Higgins
Anthony Higgins
format Journal article
container_title Communications Physics
container_volume 2
container_issue 1
publishDate 2019
institution Swansea University
issn 2399-3650
doi_str_mv 10.1038/s42005-019-0211-z
publisher Springer Science and Business Media LLC
document_store_str 1
active_str 0
description 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.
published_date 2019-09-16T04:03:18Z
_version_ 1763753274908868608
score 11.013148

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