| 1. |
- Björström, Cecilia M., et al.
(författare)
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Influence of solvents and substrates on the morphology and the performance of low-bandgap polyfluorene:PCBM photovoltaic devices
- 2006
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering. - Cardiff : SPIE - International Society for Optical Engineering. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. ; 6192, s. 61921X-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Spin-coated thin films of poly[(9,9-dioctylfluorenyl-2,7-diyl)-co-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole)] (APFO-3) blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) are used as the active material in polymer photovoltaic cells. Such blends are known for their tendency to phase separate during film formation. Tuning the morphology of the blend in a controlled way is one possible road towards higher efficiency. We studied the effect of adding chlorobenzene to chloroform-based blend solutions before spin-coating on the conversion efficiency of APFO-3:PCBM photodiodes, and related that to the lateral and vertical morphology of thin films of the blend. The lateral morphology is imaged by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and the vertical compositional profile is obtained by dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). The profiles reveal compositional variations consisting of multilayers of alternating polymer-rich and PCBM-rich domains in the blend film spin-coated from chloroform. The vertical compositional variations are caused by surface-directed spinodal waves and are frozen in during the rapid evaporation of a highly volatile solvent. With addition of the low-vapour pressure solvent chlorobenzene, a more homogeneous vertical composition is found. The conversion efficiency for solar cells of this blend was found to be optimal for chloroform:chlorobenzene mixtures with a volume-ratio of 80:1. We have also investigated the role of the substrate on the morphology. We found that blend films spin-coated from chloroform solutions on PEDOT:PSS-coated ITO show a similar compositional structure as the films on silicon, and that changing the substrate from silicon to gold only affects the vertical phase separation in a region close to the substrate interface
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| 2. |
- Eastham, D. A., et al.
(författare)
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Construction of a new type of low-energy, scanning electron microscope with atomic resolution
- 2009
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Ingår i: Proceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering. - Monterey : SPIE. - 0277-786X .- 1996-756X. - 9780819476548 ; 7378, s. 73781S-73781S
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- We describe a new type of scanning electron microscope which works by directly imaging the electron field-emission sites on a nanotip. Electrons are extracted from the nanotip through a nanoscale aperture, accelerated in a high electric field and focussed to a spot using a microscale einzel lens. If the whole microscope (accelerating section and lens) and the focal length are both restricted in size to below 10 microns, then computer simulations show that the effects of aberration are extremely small and it is possible to have a system with approximately unit magnification, at electron energies as low as 300 eV. Thus a typical emission site of 1 nm diameter will produce an image of the same size and an atomic emission site with give a resolution of 0.1-0.2 nm (1-2 Å), and because the beam is not allowed to expand beyond 100nm in diameter the depth of field is large and the contribution to the beam spot size from chromatic aberrations is less than 0.02 nm (0.2 Å) for 500 eV electrons. Since it is now entirely possible to make stable atomic sized emitters (nanopyramids) it is expected that this instrument will have atomic resolution. Furthermore the brightness of the beam is determined only by the field-emission and can be up to a million times larger than in a typical (high-energy) electron microscope. The construction of this microscope, based on using a nanotip electron source which is mounted on a nanopositioner so that it can be positioned at the correct point adjacent to the microscope, entrance aperture, is described. In this geometry the scanning is achieved by moving the sample using piezos. Two methods for the construction of the microscope column are reviewed and the results of preliminary tests are described. The advantages of this low energy, bright-beam, electron microscope with atomic resolution are described. It can be used in either scanning mode or diffraction mode. The major advantage over existing microscopes is that because it works at very low energies the elastic backscatteri g is sensitive to the atomic species and so these can be identified directly without any energy discrimination on the detector. Furthermore it is also possible to use the microscope to do low energy electron diffraction which, because the scattering cross-section is large, can be carried out on single molecules. If these are biological samples such as DNA, proteins and viruses then the low energy means that the radiation damage is minimised. Some possibilities for mounting these samples, which can reduce radiation damage, are discussed. Finally we show a system for producing holograms of single protein molecules.
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| 3. |
- Prasad, Suraj, et al.
(författare)
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Photostability of Y-type electron acceptor molecules and related copolymer
- 2023
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Ingår i: Proceedings Volume 12660, Organic, Hybrid, and Perovskite Photovoltaics XXIV. - : SPIE - The International Society for Optics and Photonics. ; 12660
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The lifetime of organic solar cells critically depends on the photochemical stability of the materials. To shed light on the photostability of novel Y-series electron acceptors, we investigate the evolution of optical properties and composition during one-sun illumination in ambient atmosphere of thin films of the small-molecule acceptor Y5 and its copolymers PF5-Y5 and PYT. We employ UV-vis, Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR), and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), to assess changes in these properties as a function of illumination time. UV-Vis spectra show that PF5-Y5 undergoes rapid photobleaching, while the Y5 spectrum remains essentially unaffected even after 30 hours of exposure. The absorption spectrum of PYT, which contains a different co-mer than PF5-Y5, is only weakly affected. XPS C1s spectra of the PF5- Y5 film show a decreasing main peak and the development of a new component after 30 hours exposure, while the Y5 film surface composition remained intact. The photodegradation products of PF5-Y5 are characterized by the presence of new carbonyl groups, emerging as absorption bands in the FTIR spectra, while such spectral changes are absent for the Y5 film, indicating that Y5 is resistant to photooxidation, while PF5-Y5 undergoes photochemical reactions. The faster photodegradation of PF5-Y5 compared to Y5 and PYT raises the question about the role of the copolymer’s BDT moiety in the photooxidation. These new insights on the dependence of the photostability of acceptor molecules on their molecular structure are expected to contribute to the design of stable acceptor copolymers for organic solar cells with long operational lifetimes.
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