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Author |
Ben Dkhil, S.; Perkhun, P.; Luo, C.; Mueller, D.; Alkarsifi, R.; Barulina, E.; Quiroz, Y.A.A.; Margeat, O.; Dubas, S.T.; Koganezawa, T.; Kuzuhara, D.; Yoshimoto, N.; Caddeo, C.; Mattoni, A.; Zimmermann, B.; Wuerfel, U.; Pfannmöller, M.; Bals, S.; Ackermann, J.; Videlot-Ackermann, C. |
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Title |
Direct correlation of nanoscale morphology and device performance to study photocurrent generation in donor-enriched phases of polymer solar cells |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year  |
2020 |
Publication |
Acs Applied Materials & Interfaces |
Abbreviated Journal |
Acs Appl Mater Inter |
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Volume |
12 |
Issue |
25 |
Pages |
28404-28415 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
The nanoscale morphology of polymer blends is a key parameter to reach high efficiency in bulk heterojunction solar cells. Thereby, research typically focusing on optimal blend morphologies while studying nonoptimized blends may give insight into blend designs that can prove more robust against morphology defects. Here, we focus on the direct correlation of morphology and device performance of thieno[3,4-b]-thiophene-alt-benzodithiophene (PTB7):[6,6]phenyl C-71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blends processed without additives in different donor/acceptor weight ratios. We show that while blends of a 1:1.5 ratio are composed of large donor-enriched and fullerene domains beyond the exciton diffusion length, reducing the ratio below 1:0.5 leads to blends composed purely of polymer-enriched domains. Importantly, the photocurrent density in such blends can reach values between 45 and 60% of those reached for fully optimized blends using additives. We provide here direct visual evidence that fullerenes in the donor-enriched domains are not distributed homogeneously but fluctuate locally. To this end, we performed compositional nanoscale morphology analysis of the blend using spectroscopic imaging of low-energy-loss electrons using a transmission electron microscope. Charge transport measurement in combination with molecular dynamics simulations shows that the fullerene substructures inside the polymer phase generate efficient electron transport in the polymer-enriched phase. Furthermore, we show that the formation of densely packed regions of fullerene inside the polymer phase is driven by the PTB7:PC71BM enthalpy of mixing. The occurrence of such a nanoscale network of fullerene clusters leads to a reduction of electron trap states and thus efficient extraction of photocurrent inside the polymer domain. Suitable tuning of the polymer-acceptor interaction can thus introduce acceptor subnetworks in polymer-enriched phases, improving the tolerance for high-efficiency BHJ toward morphological defects such as donor-enriched domains exceeding the exciton diffusion length. |
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Wos |
000543780900058 |
Publication Date |
2020-06-01 |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1944-8244 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
9.5 |
Times cited |
7 |
Open Access |
OpenAccess |
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Notes |
; J.A., O.M., and C.V.-A. acknowledge financial support by the French Fond Unique Interministeriel (FUI) under the project “SFUMATO” (Grant Number: F1110019V/ 201308815) as well as by the European Commission under the Project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7, Grant Number: 287594). J.A., C.V.-A., and E.B. acknowledge the Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie (ANRT) and the Ministere de l'Enseignement Superieur, de la Recherche et de l'Innovation, awarded through the company Dracula Technologies (Valence, France), for framework of a CIFRE Ph.D. grant 2017/0529. J.A. and P.P. received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Grant agreement no. 713750. They further acknowledge support of the Regional Council of Provence-Alpes-Cote d'Azur, A*MIDEX (no. ANR-11-IDEX-0001-02), and the Investissements d'Avenir project funded by the French Government, managed by the French National Research Agency (ANR). J.A. and Y.A.A.Q. acknowledge the French Research Agency for funding through the project NFA-15 (ANR-17-CE05-0020-01). N.Y. acknowledges that the synchrotron radiation experiments were performed at BL19B2 in SPring-8 with the approval of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (proposal nos. 2017B1629 and 2018B1791). S.B. acknowledges financial support from the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator Grant 815128-REALNANO) and from FWO (G.0381.16N). M.P. gratefully acknowledges funding by the Ministerium fur Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst Baden-Wurttemberg through the HEiKA materials research centre FunTECH-3D (MWK, 33-753-30-20/3/3) and the Large-Scale-Data-Facility (LSDF) sds@hd through grant INST 35/1314-1 FUGG. A.M. acknowledges Italian MIUR for funding through the project PON04a2 00490 M2M Netergit, PRACE, for awarding access to Marconi KNL at CINECA, Italy, through projects DECONVOLVES (2018184466) and PROVING-IL (2019204911). C.C. acknowledges the CINECA award under the ISCRA initiative for the availability of high-performance computing resources and support (project MITOMASC). ; sygma |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 9.5; 2020 IF: 7.504 |
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Call Number |
UA @ admin @ c:irua:170703 |
Serial |
6484 |
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Author |
Ben Dkhil, S.; Pfannmöller, M.; Schroeder, R.R.; Alkarsifi, R.; Gaceur, M.; Koentges, W.; Heidari, H.; Bals, S.; Margeat, O.; Ackermann, J.; Videlot-Ackermann, C. |
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Title |
Interplay of interfacial layers and blend composition to reduce thermal degradation of polymer solar cells at high temperature |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year |
2018 |
Publication |
ACS applied materials and interfaces |
Abbreviated Journal |
Acs Appl Mater Inter |
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Volume |
10 |
Issue |
10 |
Pages |
3874-3884 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
The thermal stability of printed polymer solar cells at elevated temperatures needs to be improved to achieve high-throughput fabrication including annealing steps as well as long-term stability. During device processing, thermal annealing impacts both the organic photoactive layer, and the two interfacial layers make detailed studies of degradation mechanism delicate. A recently identified thermally stable poly[[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b'-dithiopherie-2,6-diyl] [3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl) carbonyl] thieno [3,4-b]thiophenediyl]] : [6,6]-phenyl- C-71-butyric acid methyl ester (PTB7:PC70BM) blend as photoactive layer in combination with poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate as hole extraction layer is used here to focus on the impact of electron extraction layer (EEL) on the thermal stability of solar cells. Solar cells processed with densely packed ZnO nanoparticle layers still show 92% of the initial efficiency after constant annealing during 1 day at 140 degrees C, whereas partially covering ZnO layers as well as an evaporated calcium layer leads to performance losses of up to 30%. This demonstrates that the nature and morphology of EELs highly influence the thermal stability of the device. We extend our study to thermally unstable PTB7:[6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM) blends to highlight the impact of ZnO on the device degradation during annealing. Importantly, only 12% loss in photocurrent density is observed after annealing at 140 degrees C during 1 day when using closely packed ZnO. This is in stark contrast to literature and addressed here to the use of a stable double-sided confinement during thermal annealing. The underlying mechanism of the inhibition of photocurrent losses is revealed by electron microscopy imaging and spatially resolved spectroscopy. We found that the double-sided confinement suppresses extensive fullerene diffusion during the annealing step, but with still an increase in size and distance of the enriched donor and acceptor domains inside the photoactive layer by an average factor of 5. The later result in combination with comparably small photocurrent density losses indicates the existence of an efficient transport of minority charge carriers inside the donor and acceptor enriched phases in PTB7:PC60BM blends. |
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Wos |
000424728800082 |
Publication Date |
2018-01-12 |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1944-8244 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
7.504 |
Times cited |
9 |
Open Access |
OpenAccess |
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Notes |
; We acknowledge the financial support by the French Fond Unique Interministeriel (FUI) under the project “SFUMATO” (grant number: F1110019V/201308815) as well as by the European Commission under the Project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7-contract number: 287594). M.P. and R.R.S. acknowledge support by the HeiKA (Heidelberg Karlsruhe Research Partnership) FunTech-3D materials science program. ; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 7.504 |
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Call Number |
UA @ lucian @ c:irua:149309UA @ admin @ c:irua:149309 |
Serial |
4939 |
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Author |
Ata, I.; Ben Dkhil, S.; Pfannmoeller, M.; Bals, S.; Duche, D.; Simon, J.-J.; Koganezawa, T.; Yoshimoto, N.; Videlot-Ackermann, C.; Margeat, O.; Ackermann, J.; Baeuerle, P. |
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Title |
The influence of branched alkyl side chains in A-D-A oligothiophenes on the photovoltaic performance and morphology of solution-processed bulk-heterojunction solar cells |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Organic chemistry frontiers : an international journal of organic chemistry |
Abbreviated Journal |
Org Chem Front |
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Volume |
4 |
Issue |
4 |
Pages |
1561-1573 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
Besides providing sufficient solubility, branched alkyl chains also affect the film-forming and packing properties of organic semiconductors. In order to avoid steric hindrance as it is present in wide-spread alkyl chains comprising a branching point position at the C2-position, i.e., 2-ethylhexyl, the branching point can be moved away from the pi-conjugated backbone. In this report, we study the influence of the modification of the branching point position from the C2-position in 2-hexyldecylamine (1) to the C4-position in 4-hexyldecylamine (2) connected to the central dithieno[3,2-b: 2', 3'-d] pyrrole (DTP) moiety in a well-studied A-D-A oligothiophene on the optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic performance in solution- processed bulk heterojunction solar cells (BHJSCs) with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as the acceptor material. Post-treatment of the photoactive layers is performed via solvent vapor annealing (SVA) in order to improve the film microstructure of the bulk heterojunction. The time evolution of nanoscale morphological changes is followed by combining scanning transmission electron microscopy with low-energy-loss spectroscopic imaging (STEM-SI), solid-state absorption spectroscopy, and two-dimensional grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (2D-GIXRD). Our results show an improvement of the photovoltaic performance that is dependent on the branching point position in the donor oligomer. Optical spacers are utilized to increase light absorption inside the co-oligomer 2-based BHJSCs leading to increased power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 8.2% when compared to the corresponding co-oligomer 1-based devices. A STEM-SI analysis of the respective device cross-sections of active layers containing 1 and 2 as donor materials indeed reveals significant differences in their respective active layer morphologies. |
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RSC Publishing |
Place of Publication |
London |
Editor |
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Wos |
000406374800013 |
Publication Date |
2017-05-02 |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
2052-4129 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
4.955 |
Times cited |
24 |
Open Access |
OpenAccess |
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Notes |
; We acknowledge financial support by the European Commission under the project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7, grant number: 287594) and S.B. acknowledges the ERC Starting Grant Colouratoms (335078). ; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 4.955 |
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Call Number |
UA @ lucian @ c:irua:145176UA @ admin @ c:irua:145176 |
Serial |
4727 |
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Author |
Ben Dkhil, S.; Pfannmöller, M.; Ata, I.; Duche, D.; Gaceur, M.; Koganezawa, T.; Yoshimoto, N.; Simon, J.-J.; Escoubas, L.; Videlot-Ackermann, C.; Margeat, O.; Bals, S.; Bauerle, P.; Ackermann, J. |
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Title |
Time evolution studies of dithieno[3,2-b:2 ',3 '-d] pyrrole-based A-D-A oligothiophene bulk heterojunctions during solvent vapor annealing towards optimization of photocurrent generation |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Journal of materials chemistry A : materials for energy and sustainability |
Abbreviated Journal |
J Mater Chem A |
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Volume |
5 |
Issue |
5 |
Pages |
1005-1013 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
Solvent vapor annealing (SVA) is one of the main techniques to improve the morphology of bulk heterojunction solar cells using oligomeric donors. In this report, we study time evolution of nanoscale morphological changes in bulk heterojunctions based on a well-studied dithienopyrrole-based A-D-A oligothiophene (dithieno[3,2-b: 2',3'-d] pyrrole named here 1) blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C-71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) to increase photocurrent density by combining scanning transmission electron microscopy and low-energy-loss spectroscopy. Our results show that SVA transforms the morphology of 1 : PC71BM blends by a three-stage mechanism: highly intermixed phases evolve into nanostructured bilayers that correspond to an optimal blend morphology. Additional SVA leads to completely phaseseparated micrometer-sized domains. Optical spacers were used to increase light absorption inside optimized 1 : PC71BM blends leading to solar cells of 7.74% efficiency but a moderate photocurrent density of 12.3 mA cm (-2). Quantum efficiency analyses reveal that photocurrent density is mainly limited by losses inside the donor phase. Indeed, optimized 1 : PC71BM blends consist of large donor-enriched domains not optimal for exciton to photocurrent conversion. Shorter SVA times lead to smaller domains; however they are embedded in large mixed phases suggesting that introduction of stronger molecular packing may help us to better balance phase separation and domain size enabling more efficient bulk heterojunction solar cells. |
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Corporate Author |
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Publisher |
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Place of Publication |
Cambridge |
Editor |
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Wos |
000394430800018 |
Publication Date |
2016-11-30 |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
2050-7488; 2050-7496 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
8.867 |
Times cited |
19 |
Open Access |
Not_Open_Access |
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Notes |
; We acknowledge financial support by the French Fond Unique Interministeriel (FUI) under the project “SFUMATO” (Grant number: F1110019V/201308815) as well as by the European Commission under the Project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7, Grant number: 287594). The synchrotron radiation experiments were performed at BL19B2 in SPring-8 with the approval of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (Proposal No. 2016A1568). We further acknowledge financial support via ERC Starting Grant Colouratoms (335078). ; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 8.867 |
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Call Number |
UA @ lucian @ c:irua:142602UA @ admin @ c:irua:142602 |
Serial |
4695 |
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Author |
Ben Dkhil, S.; Pfannmöller, M.; Saba, M.I.; Gaceur, M.; Heidari, H.; Videlot-Ackermann, C.; Margeat, O.; Guerrero, A.; Bisquert, J.; Garcia-Belmonte, G.; Mattoni, A.; Bals, S.; Ackermann, J. |
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Title |
Toward high-temperature stability of PTB7-based bulk heterojunction solar cells : impact of fullerene size and solvent additive |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year |
2017 |
Publication |
Laser physics review |
Abbreviated Journal |
Adv Energy Mater |
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Volume |
7 |
Issue |
7 |
Pages |
1601486 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
The use of fullerene as acceptor limits the thermal stability of organic solar cells at high temperatures as their diffusion inside the donor leads to phase separation via Ostwald ripening. Here it is reported that fullerene diffusion is fully suppressed at temperatures up to 140 degrees C in bulk heterojunctions based on the benzodithiophene-based polymer (the poly[[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b: 4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl) carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl]], (PTB7) in combination with the fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM). The blend stability is found independently of the presence of diiodooctane (DIO) used to optimize nanostructuration and in contrast to PTB7 blends using the smaller fullerene derivative PC70BM. The unprecedented thermal stability of PTB7: PC70BM layers is addressed to local minima in the mixing enthalpy of the blend forming stable phases that inhibit fullerene diffusion. Importantly, although the nanoscale morphology of DIO processed blends is thermally stable, corresponding devices show strong performance losses under thermal stress. Only by the use of a high temperature annealing step removing residual DIO from the device, remarkably stable high efficiency solar cells with performance losses less than 10% after a continuous annealing at 140 degrees C over 3 days are obtained. These results pave the way toward high temperature stable polymer solar cells using fullerene acceptors. |
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Corporate Author |
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Thesis |
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Publisher |
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Place of Publication |
Place of publication unknown |
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Language |
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Wos |
000396328500009 |
Publication Date |
2016-11-07 |
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Series Editor |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1614-6832; |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
16.721 |
Times cited |
27 |
Open Access |
Not_Open_Access |
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Notes |
; The authors acknowledge financial support by the French Fond Unique Interministeriel (FUI) under the project “SFUMATO” (grant number: F1110019V/ 201308815) as well as by the European Commission under the Project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7, grant number: 287594). Generalitat Valenciana (ISIC/2012/008 Institute of Nanotechnologies for Clean Energies) is also acknowledged for providing financial support. The authors further acknowledge financial support via ERC Starting Grant Colouratoms (335078). ; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 16.721 |
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Call Number |
UA @ lucian @ c:irua:141991UA @ admin @ c:irua:141991 |
Serial |
4697 |
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Author |
Ben Dkhil, S.; Pfannmöller, M.; Bals, S.; Koganezawa, T.; Yoshimoto, N.; Hannani, D.; Gaceur, M.; Videlot-Ackermann, C.; Margeat, O.; Ackermann, J. |
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Title |
Square-centimeter-sized high-efficiency polymer solar cells : how the processing atmosphere and film quality influence performance at large scale |
Type |
A1 Journal article |
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Year |
2016 |
Publication |
Laser physics review |
Abbreviated Journal |
Adv Energy Mater |
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Volume |
6 |
Issue |
6 |
Pages |
1600290 |
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Keywords |
A1 Journal article; Engineering sciences. Technology; Electron microscopy for materials research (EMAT) |
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Abstract |
Organic solar cells based on two benzodithiophene-based polymers (PTB7 and PTB7-Th) processed at square centimeter-size under inert atmosphere and ambient air, respectively, are investigated. It is demonstrated that the performance of solar cells processed under inert atmosphere is not limited by the upscaling of photoactive layer and the interfacial layers. Thorough morphological and electrical characterizations of optimized layers and corresponding devices reveal that performance losses due to area enlargement are only caused by the sheet resistance of the transparent electrode reducing the effi ciency from 9.3% of 7.8% for PTB7-Th in the condition that both photoactive layer and the interfacial layers are of high layer quality. Air processing of photoactive layer and the interfacial layers into centimeter-sized solar cells lead to additional, but only slight, losses (< 10%) in all photovoltaic parameters, which can be addressed to changes in the electronic properties of both active layer and ZnO layers rather than changes in layer morphology. The demonstrated compatibility of polymer solar cells using solution-processed photoactive layer and interfacial layers with large area indicates that the introduction of a standard active area of 1 cm(2) for measuring effi ciency of organic record solar cells is feasible. However electric standards for indium tin oxides (ITO) or alternative transparent electrodes need to be developed so that performance of new photovoltaic materials can be compared at square centimeter-size. |
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Place of Publication |
Place of publication unknown |
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Wos |
000379314700010 |
Publication Date |
2016-05-04 |
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Series Editor |
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Series Title |
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Abbreviated Series Title |
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Series Volume |
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Series Issue |
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Edition |
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ISSN |
1614-6832 |
ISBN |
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Additional Links |
UA library record; WoS full record; WoS citing articles |
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Impact Factor |
16.721 |
Times cited |
6 |
Open Access |
Not_Open_Access |
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Notes |
; The authors acknowledge financial support by the French Fond Unique Intermisteriel (FUI) under the project “SFUMATO” (Grant number: F1110019V/ 201308815) as well as by the European Commission under the Project “SUNFLOWER” (FP7-ICT-2011-7-contract no. 287594). Generalitat Valenciana (ISIC/2012/008 Institute of Nanotechnologies for Clean Energies) is also acknowledged for providing financial support. The synchrotron radiation experiments were performed at BL46XU and BL19B2 in SPring-8 with the approval of Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI) (Proposal Nos. 2014B1916 and 2015A1984). The authors further acknowledge financial support from the European Research Council (ERC Starting Grant #335078-COLOURATOMS). ; |
Approved |
Most recent IF: 16.721 |
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Call Number |
UA @ lucian @ c:irua:134951 |
Serial |
4249 |
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