Morphological, chemical, and electronic changes of the conjugated polymer PTB7 with thermal annealing

Victoria Savikhin; Lethy K. Jagadamma; Lafe J. Purvis; Iain Robertson; Stefan D. Oosterhout; Christopher J. Douglas; Ifor D. W. Samuel; Michael F. Toney

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002

Morphological, chemical, and electronic changes of the conjugated polymer PTB7 with thermal annealing

Victoria Savikhin, Lethy K. Jagadamma, Lafe J. Purvis, Iain Robertson, Stefan D. Oosterhout, Christopher J. Douglas, Ifor D. W. Samuel, Michael F. Toney

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

37 Citations (Scopus)

9 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

There is considerable interest in improving the performance of organic optoelectronic devices through processing techniques. Here, we study the effect of high-temperature annealing on the properties of the semiconducting polymer PTB7 and PTB7:fullerene blends, of interest as efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Annealing to moderate temperature improves the PTB7 morphology and optoelectronic properties. High-temperature annealing also improves morphology but results in poorer optoelectronic properties. This is a result of side chain cleavage that creates by-products that act as trap states, increasing electronic disorder and decreasing mobility. We further observe changes to the PTB7 chemical structure after thermal cleavage that are similar to those following solar irradiation. This implies that side chain cleavage is an important mechanism in device photodegradation, which is a major ?burn-in? loss mechanism in OPV. These results lend insight into side chain cleavage as a method of improving optoelectronic properties and suggest strategies for improvement in device photostability.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	182-192
Number of pages	11
Journal	iScience
Volume	2
Early online date	22 Mar 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002
Publication status	Published - 27 Apr 2018

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Access to Document

10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Savikhin_2018_iSci_PTB7_CC
© 2018 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Final published version, 2.3 MBLicence: CC BY-NC-ND

Self-Assembled Organic Photovoltaic mat: Self-assembled organic photovoltaic materials
Samuel, I. D. W. (PI)
EPSRC
17/03/14 → 16/03/17
Project: Standard
Equipment Account: Characterisation and Manipulation of Advanced Functional Materials and their Interfaces at the Nanoscale
Samuel, I. D. W. (PI)
EPSRC
1/10/13 → 30/09/23
Project: Standard

Cite this

@article{d52b2b0d77ed4daca94bea6c6facc511,

title = "Morphological, chemical, and electronic changes of the conjugated polymer PTB7 with thermal annealing",

abstract = "There is considerable interest in improving the performance of organic optoelectronic devices through processing techniques. Here, we study the effect of high-temperature annealing on the properties of the semiconducting polymer PTB7 and PTB7:fullerene blends, of interest as efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Annealing to moderate temperature improves the PTB7 morphology and optoelectronic properties. High-temperature annealing also improves morphology but results in poorer optoelectronic properties. This is a result of side chain cleavage that creates by-products that act as trap states, increasing electronic disorder and decreasing mobility. We further observe changes to the PTB7 chemical structure after thermal cleavage that are similar to those following solar irradiation. This implies that side chain cleavage is an important mechanism in device photodegradation, which is a major ?burn-in? loss mechanism in OPV. These results lend insight into side chain cleavage as a method of improving optoelectronic properties and suggest strategies for improvement in device photostability.",

author = "Victoria Savikhin and Jagadamma, {Lethy K.} and Purvis, {Lafe J.} and Iain Robertson and Oosterhout, {Stefan D.} and Douglas, {Christopher J.} and Samuel, {Ifor D. W.} and Toney, {Michael F.}",

note = "This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research NDSEG fellowship (V.S.) and the Department of Energy SCGSR Program (L.J.P.). Work was partially supported by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research Award No. N00014-14-1-0580 (S.D.O., M.F.T.). L.K.J., I.R., and I.D.W.S. were supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grants EP/L017008/1 and EP/L012294/1 ). I.D.W.S. also acknowledges support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515. ",

year = "2018",

month = apr,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002",

language = "English",

volume = "2",

pages = "182--192",

journal = "iScience",

issn = "2589-0042",

publisher = "Elsevier Inc.",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Morphological, chemical, and electronic changes of the conjugated polymer PTB7 with thermal annealing

AU - Savikhin, Victoria

AU - Jagadamma, Lethy K.

AU - Purvis, Lafe J.

AU - Robertson, Iain

AU - Oosterhout, Stefan D.

AU - Douglas, Christopher J.

AU - Samuel, Ifor D. W.

AU - Toney, Michael F.

N1 - This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research NDSEG fellowship (V.S.) and the Department of Energy SCGSR Program (L.J.P.). Work was partially supported by the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research Award No. N00014-14-1-0580 (S.D.O., M.F.T.). L.K.J., I.R., and I.D.W.S. were supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (grants EP/L017008/1 and EP/L012294/1 ). I.D.W.S. also acknowledges support from a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award. Use of the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Contract No. DE-AC02-76SF00515.

PY - 2018/4/27

Y1 - 2018/4/27

N2 - There is considerable interest in improving the performance of organic optoelectronic devices through processing techniques. Here, we study the effect of high-temperature annealing on the properties of the semiconducting polymer PTB7 and PTB7:fullerene blends, of interest as efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Annealing to moderate temperature improves the PTB7 morphology and optoelectronic properties. High-temperature annealing also improves morphology but results in poorer optoelectronic properties. This is a result of side chain cleavage that creates by-products that act as trap states, increasing electronic disorder and decreasing mobility. We further observe changes to the PTB7 chemical structure after thermal cleavage that are similar to those following solar irradiation. This implies that side chain cleavage is an important mechanism in device photodegradation, which is a major ?burn-in? loss mechanism in OPV. These results lend insight into side chain cleavage as a method of improving optoelectronic properties and suggest strategies for improvement in device photostability.

AB - There is considerable interest in improving the performance of organic optoelectronic devices through processing techniques. Here, we study the effect of high-temperature annealing on the properties of the semiconducting polymer PTB7 and PTB7:fullerene blends, of interest as efficient organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Annealing to moderate temperature improves the PTB7 morphology and optoelectronic properties. High-temperature annealing also improves morphology but results in poorer optoelectronic properties. This is a result of side chain cleavage that creates by-products that act as trap states, increasing electronic disorder and decreasing mobility. We further observe changes to the PTB7 chemical structure after thermal cleavage that are similar to those following solar irradiation. This implies that side chain cleavage is an important mechanism in device photodegradation, which is a major ?burn-in? loss mechanism in OPV. These results lend insight into side chain cleavage as a method of improving optoelectronic properties and suggest strategies for improvement in device photostability.

U2 - 10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002

DO - 10.1016/j.isci.2018.03.002

M3 - Article

SN - 2589-0042

VL - 2

SP - 182

EP - 192

JO - iScience

JF - iScience

ER -

Morphological, chemical, and electronic changes of the conjugated polymer PTB7 with thermal annealing

Abstract

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Projects

Self-Assembled Organic Photovoltaic mat: Self-assembled organic photovoltaic materials

Equipment Account: Characterisation and Manipulation of Advanced Functional Materials and their Interfaces at the Nanoscale

Cite this