Determining the optimum morphology in high-performance polymer-fullerene organic photovoltaic cells

Gordon J. Hedley, Alexander J. Ward, Alexander Alekseev, Calvyn T. Howells, Emiliano R. Martins, Luis A. Serrano, Graeme Cooke, Arvydas Ruseckas and Ifor D. W. Samuel ()
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Gordon J. Hedley: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh
Alexander J. Ward: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh
Alexander Alekseev: Materials and Condensed Matter Physics, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow
Calvyn T. Howells: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh
Emiliano R. Martins: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh
Luis A. Serrano: Glasgow Centre for Physical Organic Chemistry, WestCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow
Graeme Cooke: Glasgow Centre for Physical Organic Chemistry, WestCHEM, School of Chemistry, University of Glasgow
Arvydas Ruseckas: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh
Ifor D. W. Samuel: Organic Semiconductor Centre, SUPA, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of St Andrews, North Haugh

Nature Communications, 2013, vol. 4, issue 1, 1-10

Abstract: Abstract The morphology of bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic cells controls many of the performance characteristics of devices. However, measuring this morphology is challenging because of the small length-scales and low contrast between organic materials. Here we use nanoscale photocurrent mapping, ultrafast fluorescence and exciton diffusion to observe the detailed morphology of a high-performance blend of PTB7:PC71BM. We show that optimized blends consist of elongated fullerene-rich and polymer-rich fibre-like domains, which are 10–50 nm wide and 200–400 nm long. These elongated domains provide a concentration gradient for directional charge diffusion that helps in the extraction of charge pairs with 80% efficiency. In contrast, blends with agglomerated fullerene domains show a much lower efficiency of charge extraction of ~45%, which is attributed to poor electron and hole transport. Our results show that the formation of narrow and elongated domains is desirable for efficient bulk heterojunction solar cells.

Date: 2013
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms3867

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