| 1. |
- Emanuelsson, Christian
(författare)
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Electronic Structure and Film Morphology Studies of PTCDI on Metal/Semiconductor Surfaces
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Organic semiconductors have received increasing attention over the last decades as potential alternatives for inorganic semiconductors. The properties of these films are highly dependent on their structural order. Of special interest is the interface between the film and its substrate, since the structure of the interface and the first few layers decide the growth of the rest of the film. The interface structure is determined by the substrate/molecule interactions, the intermolecular interactions and the growth conditions.In this thesis, thin films of the organic semiconductor PTCDI have been studied using complementary microscopy and spectroscopy techniques on two metal-induced surface reconstructions, Ag/Si(111)-√3×√3 and Sn/Si(111)-2√3×2√3. These surfaces were chosen because they have different reactivities and surface periodicities. On the weakly interacting Ag-terminated surface, the film growth is mainly governed by the intermolecular interactions. This leads to well-ordered films that grow layer-by-layer. The interaction with the substrate is through electron charge transfer to the molecules from the substrate. This results in two different types of molecules with different electronic structure, which are identified using both STM images and PES spectra. On the more strongly interacting Sn-terminated surface the molecules adsorb in specific adsorption geometries and form 1D rows. At around 0.5 ML coverage the rows also interact with each other and form a 4√3×2√3 reconstruction and beyond one ML coverage the growth is characterized as island growth. The interaction with the substrate is mainly due to heavy electron charge transfer from the Sn atoms in the substrate to the C atoms in the imide group, but also the N atoms and the perylene core in PTCDI are involved. In these systems, the interactions with the surfaces result in new states inside the HOMO-LUMO gap, and the intermolecular interactions are dominated by O···H and O···H-N hydrogen bondings.
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| 2. |
- Blazinic, Vanja
(författare)
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Probing the effects of photodegradation of acceptor materials in polymer solar cells: bulk, surface, and molecular level
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Polymer solar cells (PSC) have reached record power conversion efficiencies of over 15%. The operational lifetime of PSCs, however, has to increase for their use in large area outdoor applications. In this work, a set of spectroscopic techniques (UV-vis, FTIR, NEXAFS, XPS) was used to study the impact of exposure to light and air (photo-oxidation) on the photoactive layer and its components. We focused on the electron acceptor components: the fullerene derivatives, PC60BM and PC70BM, and the polymer N2200. A comparative study of photo-oxidized PC60BM and PC70BM thin films by UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy has shown that both materials undergo similar photochemical transformation, with the process being faster in PC60BM, due to the greater curvature of the C60 cage. Comparing experimental FTIR, XPS and NEXAFS spectra of the photo-oxidized PC60BM thin films with the calculated spectra for a large variety of photo-oxidation products, it was found that dicarbonyl and anhydride groups attach to the C60 cage during photo-oxidation. The study of photo-oxidized TQ1:PC70BM blend films by spectroscopic and J-V measurements shows that deterioration of the charge transport in PC70BM is the major contributor to the device performance degradation. Kelvin Probe measurements demonstrated that the charge transport deterioration was due to upward band bending and gap states being formed on the surface of photo-oxidized PC70BM. The TQ1:PC70BM blends films were further studied by AFM-IR in order to determine the lateral distribution of pristine components, as well as the photo-oxidation products. It was found that anhydride oxidation products of PC70BM are equally distributed over the blend film surface. The PC70BM is replaced with the polymer N2200 in the blend with TQ1. The photostability in air of the blend and its neat components was studied by UV-vis and FTIR spectroscopy. The spectra show that thermal annealing improves the photostability in air of both components.
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| 3. |
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| 4. |
- Andronic, L., et al.
(författare)
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Photocatalytic self-cleaning properties of thin films of photochromic yttrium oxyhydride
- 2022
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Ingår i: Journal of Solid State Chemistry. - : Elsevier. - 0022-4596 .- 1095-726X. ; 316
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oxyhydride of yttrium (YHO) belongs to an emerging class of materials, with oxide and hydride anions sharingthe same sites in the lattice. Under sunlight irradiation, the material is transparent to visible light with trans-parency exceeding 85% and can absorb about 10% of sunlight. Furthermore, increasing light transmittance in thevisible light enhanced the self-cleaning properties of the coated materials, making these materials promisingcandidates for smart windows applications. However, the light-absorbing properties of the materials wereincreased with exposure time, and in the photodarkening state, they can absorb about 40% of sunlight. Kelvinprobe measurements show work function values between 2.9 and 4.2 eV for YHO, depending on the H2/Arpressure in the deposition chamber. Using the Kelvin probe, we demonstrate that the work function decreaseswith decreasing deposition pressure and hydrogen flow. Measurements under solar light reveal a decrease of workfunction by 0.2 eV followed by a slow relaxation with the light off. Moreover, the self-cleaning test shows that theoxyhydroxide thin films have excellent photocatalytic activity and total self-cleaning in 40 h.
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| 5. |
- Awsiuk, Kamil, et al.
(författare)
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Electrically Switchable Film Structure of Conjugated Polymer Composites
- 2022
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Ingår i: Materials. - : MDPI. - 1996-1944. ; 15:6
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Domains rich in different blend components phase-separate during deposition, creating a film morphology that determines the performance of active layers in organic electronics. However, morphological control either relies on additional fabrication steps or is limited to a small region where an external interaction is applied. Here, we show that different semiconductor-insulator polymer composites can be rapidly dip-coated with the film structure electrically switched between distinct morphologies during deposition guided by the meniscus formed between the stationary barrier and horizontally drawn solid substrate. Reversible and repeatable changes between the morphologies used in devices, e.g., lateral morphologies and stratified layers of semiconductors and insulators, or between phase-inverted droplet-like structures are manifested only for one polarity of the voltage applied across the meniscus as a rectangular pulse. This phenomenon points to a novel mechanism, related to voltage-induced doping and the doping-dependent solubility of the conjugated polymer, equivalent to an increased semiconductor content that controls the composite morphologies. This is effective only for the positively polarized substrate rather than the barrier, as the former entrains the nearby lower part of the coating solution that forms the final composite film. The mechanism, applied to the pristine semiconductor solution, results in an increased semiconductor deposition and 40-times higher film conductance.
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| 6. |
- Blazinic, Vanja, et al.
(författare)
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Impact of intentional photo-oxidation of a donor polymer and PC70BM on solar cell performance
- 2019
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 21, s. 22259-22271
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A short lifetime is the main factor hindering the wider implementation of low-cost organic photovoltaics in large-area and outdoor applications. Ingress of oxygen and water vapour through non-ideal encapsulation layers is a known cause of degradation for polymer/fullerene based solar cells. To better understand the origin of this performance degradation, we study the effect of intentional exposure of the photo-active layer to simulated sunlight (AM1.5) in air both on the solar cell performance and on the molecular semiconductor materials. Cathode-free thin films of a blend of the electron donor polymer poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (TQ1) and the electron acceptor fullerene derivative [6,6]-phenyl-C70-butyric acid methyl ester (PC70BM) were exposed to simulated sunlight in air. Fourier-transform infrared spectra demonstrate the formation of carbonyl photo-oxidation products in the blend films, as well as in the pristine polymer and fullerene films. Solar cells prepared with photo-oxidized active layers show increasingly degraded electrical performance (lower short circuit current, open circuit voltage and fill factor) with increasing exposure time. The increased diode ideality factor indicates that trap-assisted recombination hinders device operation after exposure. The external quantum efficiency decreases drastically with increasing exposure time over the whole photon energy range, while the UV-vis absorption spectra of the blend films only show a mild photo-induced bleaching. This demonstrates that not only the photo-induced degradation of the solar cell performance is not predominantly caused by the loss in light absorption, but charge transport and collection are also hampered. This is explained by the fact that photo-oxidation of PC70BM causes bonds in its conjugated cage to break, as evidenced by the decreased ∏* intensity in C1s-NEXAFS spectra of PC70BM films. This degradation of unoccupied states of PC70BM will hinder the transport of photo-generated electrons to the electrode. Surface photovoltage spectroscopy gives direct evidence for gap states at the surface of a PC70BM film, formed after 2 hours of exposure and resulting in upward band bending at the PC70BM/air surface. These observations indicate that the photo-oxidation of PC70BM is likely to be the main cause of the performance degradation observed when the photoactive layer of a TQ1:PC70BM solar cell is intentionally exposed to light in air.
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| 7. |
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| 8. |
- Brumboiu, Iulia E., 1987-, et al.
(författare)
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Photooxidation of PC60BM : new insights from spectroscopy
- 2022
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Ingår i: Physical Chemistry, Chemical Physics - PCCP. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1463-9076 .- 1463-9084. ; 24:42, s. 25753-25766
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This joint experimental-theoretical spectroscopy study of the fullerene derivative PC60BM ([6,6]-phenyl-C60-butyric acid methyl ester) aims to improve the understanding of the effect of photooxidation on its electronic structure. We have studied spin-coated thin films of PC60BM by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Near-edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), before and after intentional exposure to simulated sunlight in air for different lengths of time. The π* resonance in the C1s NEXAFS spectrum was found to be a very sensitive probe for the early changes to the fullerene cage, while FTIR spectra, in combination with O1s NEXAFS spectra, enabled the identification of the oxidation products. The changes observed in the spectra obtained by these complementary methods were compared with the corresponding Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculated single-molecule spectra of a large set of in silico generated oxidation products of PC60BM where oxygen atoms were attached to the C60 cage. This comparison confirms that photooxidation of PC60BM disrupts the conjugation of the fullerene cage by a transition from sp2 to sp3-hybridized carbon and causes the formation of several oxidation products, earlier proposed for C60. The agreement between experimental and calculated IR spectra suggests moreover the presence of dicarbonyl and anhydride structures on the fullerene cage, in combination with cage opening at the adsorption site. By including PC60BM with physisorbed O2 molecules on the cage in our theoretical description in order to model oxygen diffused through the film, the experimental O1s XPS and O1s NEXAFS spectra could be reproduced.
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| 9. |
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| 10. |
- Ciammaruchi, Laura, et al.
(författare)
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Stability of organic solar cells with PCDTBT donor polymer : An interlaboratory study
- 2018
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Research. - New York : Cambridge University Press. - 0884-2914 .- 2044-5326. ; 33:13, s. 1909-1924
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This work is part of the interlaboratory collaboration to study the stability of organic solar cells containing PCDTBT polymer as a donor material. The varieties of the OPV devices with different device architectures, electrode materials, encapsulation, and device dimensions were prepared by seven research laboratories. Sets of identical devices were aged according to four different protocols: shelf lifetime, laboratory weathering under simulated illumination at ambient temperature, laboratory weathering under simulated illumination, and elevated temperature (65 degrees C) and daylight outdoor weathering under sunlight. The results generated in this study allow us to outline several general conclusions related to PCDTBT-based bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. The results herein reported can be considered as practical guidance for the realization of stabilization approaches in BHJ solar cells containing PCDTBT.
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| 11. |
- Cirillo, Emilio N.M., et al.
(författare)
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A lattice model approach to the morphology formation from ternary mixtures during the evaporation of one component
- 2019
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Ingår i: The European Physical Journal Special Topics. - : Springer. - 1951-6355 .- 1951-6401. ; 228:1, s. 55-68
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Stimulated by experimental evidence in the field of solution-born thin films, we study the morphology formation in a three state lattice system subjected to the evaporation of one component. The practical problem that we address is the understanding of the parameters that govern morphology formation from a ternary mixture upon evaporation, as is the case in the fabrication of thin films from solution for organic photovoltaics. We use, as a tool, a generalized version of the Potts and Blume-Capel models in 2D, with the Monte Carlo Kawasaki-Metropolis algorithm, to simulate the phase behaviour of a ternary mixture upon evaporation of one of its components. The components with spin 1, −1 and 0 in the Blume-Capel dynamics correspond to the electron-acceptor, electron-donor and solvent molecules, respectively, in a ternary mixture used in the preparation of the active layer films in an organic solar cell. Furthermore, we introduce parameters that account for the relative composition of the mixture, temperature, and interaction between the species in the system. We identify the parameter regions that are prone to facilitate the phase separation. Furthermore, we study qualitatively the types of formed configurations. We show that even a relatively simple model, as the present one, can generate key morphological features, similar to those observed in experiments, which proves the method valuable for the study of complex systems.
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| 12. |
- Deng, Min, et al.
(författare)
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Fine regulation of crystallisation tendency to optimize the BHJ nanostructure and performance of polymer solar cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2040-3364 .- 2040-3372. ; 12:24, s. 12928-12941
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Optimizing the nanostructure of the active layer of polymer solar cells (PSCs) is one of the main challenges to achieve high device performances. The phase separation of the donor polymer and molecular acceptor within the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layer is often driven by the crystallisation of the acceptor molecules. Hence, a suitable crystallisation tendency of the chosen acceptor is ultimately important. In this work, we identified melting temperature as an indicator for the crystallisation tendency and introduced extended fused-aromatic rings to the end groups of the nonfullerene acceptor molecule to enhance the intermolecular binding energy as well as its crystallisation tendency. The crystallinity, crystal regularity and average crystal size were significantly increased for those molecules with larger fused end groups. The devices containing molecule IDTTC with two fused thiophene rings, which displayed intermediate crystallisation tendency, were found to possess an optimized phase separation scale, balanced hole/electron mobility and highest device performances with the fill factor as high as 73.2% and a power conversion efficiency of 13.49%. With the above observations, we established a new route and paradigm to adjust the crystallisation tendency and BHJ nanostructure of nonfullerene acceptor molecules, thus enhancing the device performances through molecular engineering.
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| 13. |
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| 14. |
- Fan, Qunping, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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High-performance all-polymer solar cells enabled by a novel low bandgap non-fully conjugated polymer acceptor
- 2021
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Ingår i: Science in China Series B. - : Springer Nature. - 1674-7291 .- 1869-1870. ; 64, s. 1380-1388
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Anon-fully conjugated polymer as a new class of acceptor materials has shown some advantages over its small molecular counterpart when used in photoactive layers for all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs), despite a low power conversion efficiency (PCE) caused by its narrow absorption spectra. Herein, a novel non-fully conjugated polymer acceptor PFY-2TS with a low bandgap of similar to 1.40 eV was developed, via polymerizing a large pi-fused small molecule acceptor (SMA) building block (namely YBO) with a non-conjugated thioalkyl linkage. Compared with its precursor YBO, PFY-2TS retains a similar low bandgap but a higher LUMO level. Moreover, compared with the structural analog of YBO-based fully conjugated polymer acceptor PFY-DTC, PFY-2TS shows similar absorption spectrum and electron mobility, but significantly different molecular crystallinity and aggregation properties, which results in optimal blend morphology with a polymer donor PBDB-T and better device physical processes in all-PSCs. As a result, PFY-2TS-based all-PSCs achieved a PCE of 12.31% with a small energy loss of 0.56 eV enabled by the reduced non-radiative energy loss (0.24 eV), which is better than that of 11.08% for the PFY-DTC-based ones. Our work clearly demonstrated that non-fully conjugated polymers as a new class of acceptor materials are very promising for the development of high-performance all-PSCs.
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| 15. |
- Fan, Qunping, 1989, et al.
(författare)
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Over 14% efficiency all-polymer solar cells enabled by a low bandgap polymer acceptor with low energy loss and efficient charge separation
- 2020
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Ingår i: Energy & Environmental Science. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1754-5692 .- 1754-5706. ; 13:12, s. 5017-5027
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Obtaining both high open-circuit voltage (V-oc) and short-circuit current density (J(sc)) has been a major challenge for efficient all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). Herein, we developed a polymer acceptor PF5-Y5 with excellent optical absorption capability (onset extending to similar to 880 nm and maximum absorption coefficient exceeding 105 cm(-1) in a film), high electron mobility (3.18 x 10(3) cm(2) V-1 s(-1)) and high LUMO level (-3.84 eV) to address such a challenge. As a result, the PBDB-T:PF5-Y5-based all-PSCs achieved a high power conversion efficiency of up to 14.45% with both a high Voc (0.946 V) and a high Jsc (20.65 mA cm(-2)), due to the high and broad absorption coverage, small energy loss (0.57 eV) and efficient charge separation and transport in the device, which are among the best values in the all-PSC field. In addition, the all-PSC shows a similar to 15% improvement in PCE compared to its counterpart small molecule acceptor (Y5)-based device. Our results suggest that PF5-Y5 is a very promising polymer acceptor candidate for applications in efficient all-PSCs.
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| 16. |
- Farinhas, Joana, et al.
(författare)
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Efficient ternary organic solar cells based on immiscible blends
- 2017
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Ingår i: Organic electronics. - : Elsevier. - 1566-1199 .- 1878-5530. ; 41, s. 130-136
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Organic photovoltaic cells based on ternary blends of materials with complementary properties represent an approach to improve the photon-absorption and/or charge transport within the devices. However, the more complex nature of the ternary system, i.e. in diversity of materials' properties and morphological features, complicates the understanding of the processes behind such optimizations. Here, organic photovoltaic cells with wider absorption spectrum composed of two electron-donor polymers, F8T2, poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene-alt-bithiophene), and PTB7, 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]), mixed with [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) are investigated. We demonstrate an improvement of 25% in power conversion efficiency in comparison with the most efficient binary blend control devices. The active layers of these ternary cells exhibit gross phase separation, as determined by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) and Synchrotron-based Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscopy (STXM).
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| 17. |
- Gil-Escrig, Lidon, et al.
(författare)
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Efficient Wide-Bandgap Mixed-Cation and Mixed-Halide Perovskite Solar Cells by Vacuum Deposition
- 2021
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Ingår i: ACS Energy Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 2380-8195. ; 6:2, s. 827-836
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Vacuum deposition methods are increasingly applied to the preparation of perovskite films and devices, in view of the possibility to prepare multilayer structures at low temperature. Vacuum-deposited, wide-bandgap solar cells based on mixed-cation and mixed-anion perovskites have been scarcely reported, due to the challenges associated with the multiple-source processing of perovskite thin films. In this work, we describe a four-source vacuum deposition process to prepare wide-bandgap perovskites of the type FA(1-n)Cs(n)Pb-(I1-xBrx)(3) with a tunable bandgap and controlled morphology, using FAI, CsI, PbI2, and PbBr2 as the precursors. The simultaneous sublimation of PbI2 and PbBr2 allows the relative Br/Cs content to be decoupled and controlled, resulting in homogeneous perovskite films with a bandgap in the 1.7-1.8 eV range and no detectable halide segregation. Solar cells based on 1.75 eV bandgap perovskites show efficiency up to 16.8% and promising stability, maintaining 90% of the initial efficiency after 2 weeks of operation.
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| 18. |
- Holmes, Natalie P., et al.
(författare)
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Engineering Two-Phase and Three-Phase Microstructures from Water-Based Dispersions of Nanoparticles for Eco-Friendly Polymer Solar Cell Applications
- 2018
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Ingår i: Chemistry of Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0897-4756 .- 1520-5002. ; 30:18, s. 6521-6531
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Nanoparticle organic photovoltaics, a subfield of organic photovoltaics (OPV), has attracted increasing interest in recent years due to the eco-friendly fabrication of solar modules afforded by colloidal ink technology. Importantly, using this approach it is now possible to engineer the microstructure of the light absorbing/charge generating layer of organic photovoltaics; decoupling film morphology from film deposition. In this study, single-component nanoparticles of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) were synthesized and used to generate a two-phase microstructure with control over domain size prior to film deposition. Scanning transmission X-ray microscopy (STXM) and electron microscopy were used to characterize the thin film morphology. Uniquely, the measured microstructure was a direct input for a nanoscopic kinetic Monte Carlo (KMC) model allowing us to assess exciton transport properties that are experimentally inaccessible in these single-component particles. Photoluminescence, UV-vis spectroscopy measurements, and KMC results of the nanoparticle thin films enabled the calculation of an experimental exciton dissociation efficiency (ηED) of 37% for the two-phase microstructure. The glass transition temperature (Tg) of the materials was characterized with dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) and thermal annealing led to an increase in ηED to 64% due to an increase in donor-acceptor interfaces in the thin film from both sintering of neighboring opposite-type particles in addition to the generation of a third mixed phase from diffusion of PC61BM into amorphous P3HT domains. As such, this study demonstrates the higher level of control over donor-acceptor film morphology enabled by customizing nanoparticulate colloidal inks, where the optimal three-phase film morphology for an OPV photoactive layer can be designed and engineered.
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| 19. |
- Holmes, Natalie P., et al.
(författare)
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Unravelling donor–acceptor film morphologyformation for environmentally-friendly OPV inkformulations
- 2019
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Ingår i: Green Chemistry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 1463-9262 .- 1463-9270. ; 21:18, s. 5090-5103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The challenge of coating organic photovoltaics (OPV) from green solvents is to achieve the requirednanostructured interpenetrating network of donor and acceptor domains based on a rational choice ofsolvent approach as opposed to the usual trial-and-error methods. We demonstrate here that we canachieve a bicontinuous interpenetrating network with nanoscale phase separation for the chosen donor–acceptor material system poly[2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl]:phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (TQ1:PC61BM) when processing from green solvent ink formulations.This structure is achieved by first calculating the Hansen solubility parameters (HSP) of the donor andacceptor materials, followed by careful choice of solvents with selective relative solubilities for the twomaterials based on the desired order of precipitation necessary for forming a nanostructured interdigitatednetwork morphology. We found that the relative distances in Hansen space (Ra) between TQ1 andthe primary solvent, on the one hand, and PC61BM and the primary solvent, on the other hand, could becorrelated to the donor–acceptor morphology for the formulations based on the solvents d-limonene,anisole, and 2-methyl anisole, as well as the halogenated reference solvent o-dichlorobenzene. Thisnanostructured blend film morphology was characterised with scanning transmission X-ray microscopy(STXM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and the film surface composition was analysed bynear edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy. Hansen solubility theory, based onsolution thermodynamics, has been used and we propose an HSP-based method that is a general platformfor the rational design of ink formulations for solution-based organic electronics, in particular facilitatingthe green solvent transition of organic photovoltaics. Our results show that the bulk heterojunctionmorphology for a donor–acceptor system processed from customised solvent mixtures can be predictedby the HSP-based method with good reliability.
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| 20. |
- Hultmark, Sandra, 1994, et al.
(författare)
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Suppressing Co-Crystallization of Halogenated Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Thermally Stable Ternary Solar Cells
- 2020
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Ingår i: Advanced Functional Materials. - : Wiley. - 1616-3028 .- 1616-301X. ; 30:48
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- While photovoltaic blends based on non-fullerene acceptors are touted for their thermal stability, this type of acceptor tends to crystallize, which can result in a gradual decrease in photovoltaic performance and affects the reproducibility of the devices. Two halogenated indacenodithienothiophene-based acceptors that readily co-crystallize upon mixing are studied, which indicates that the use of an acceptor mixture alone does not guarantee the formation of a disordered mixture. The addition of the donor polymer to the acceptor mixture readily suppresses the crystallization, which results in a fine-grained ternary blend with nanometer-sized domains that do not coarsen due to a high Tg ≈ 200 °C. As a result, annealing at temperatures of up to 170 °C does not markedly affect the photovoltaic performance of ternary devices, in contrast to binary devices that suffer from acceptor crystallization in the active layer. The results indicate that the ternary approach enables the use of high-temperature processing protocols, which are needed for upscaling and high-throughput fabrication of organic solar cells. Further, ternary devices display a stable photovoltaic performance at 130 °C for at least 205 h, which indicates that the use of acceptor mixtures allows to fabricate devices with excellent thermal stability.
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| 21. |
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| 22. |
- Jalan, Ishita, 1991-, et al.
(författare)
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Donor-acceptor polymer complex formation in solution confirmed by spectroscopy and atomic-scale modelling
- 2023
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Ingår i: Journal of Materials Chemistry C. - : Royal Society of Chemistry. - 2050-7526 .- 2050-7534. ; 11:27, s. 9316-9326
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In all-polymer solar cells, high performance is attributed to the fine-grained morphology of the film in the active layer. However, the mechanism by which this fine-grained morphology is achieved remains unknown. Polymeric non-fullerene acceptors have the potential to restrict the self-aggregation, typical of non-fullerene small molecule acceptors. Here we employed a blend of the polymeric acceptor PF5-Y5 and the donor polymer PBDB-T to investigate the balance between molecular interactions in solution. Temperature-dependent absorption spectra show evidence of temperature-induced disaggregation of both donor and acceptor polymers, where the donor polymer disaggregation depends on the solvent polarity. Concentration-dependent fluorescence spectra of blend solutions display blue-shifted acceptor emission upon dilution, similar to that observed in acceptor solutions, and a decreased tendency for charge transfer from donor to acceptor upon dilution. Excitation spectra of dilute blend solutions contain an increased contribution to the long-wavelength acceptor emission, as compared to pure acceptor solutions, from a chromophore that absorbs in a region where the donor does not absorb. These observations can be explained by donor-acceptor complexation in dilute blend solutions, that is stabilized in more polar solvents. Moreover, the near IR-region of the absorption spectrum could be matched with the calculated electronic excitations of donor-acceptor complexes of PBDB-T and PF5-Y5 oligomers. The results corroborate that the interaction between segments of the donor and acceptor polymer chains favours the formation of donor-acceptor charge transfer complexes, stabilized by hybridization of the molecular orbitals, which reduces the electronic energy. The proposed donor-acceptor complex formation competes with the donor and acceptor self-aggregation and is influenced by the solvent environment. These pre-formed donor-acceptor complexes in low-concentration solutions can be expected to have important consequences on the film morphology of all-polymer blends. The results from this joint experimental-theoretical spectroscopy study provide insights that can guide the design of compatible donor and acceptor polymers for future high-performance organic solar cells.
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| 23. |
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| 24. |
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| 25. |
- Kumar, Kasi Vinoth, et al.
(författare)
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Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Gadolinium Oxyhydride (GdHO) Thin Films : Optical, Photocatalytic, and Electronic Properties
- 2023
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Ingår i: Nanomaterials. - : MDPI. - 2079-4991. ; 13:24
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Oxyhydrides of rare-earth metals (REMOHs) exhibit notable photochromic behaviors. Among these, yttrium oxyhydride (YHO) stands out for its impressive transparency and swift UV-responsive color change, positioning it as an optimal material for self-cleaning window applications. Although semiconductor photocatalysis holds potential solutions for critical environmental issues, optimizing the photocatalytic efficacy of photochromic substances has not been adequately addressed. This research advances the study of REMOHs, focusing on the properties of gadolinium oxyhydride (GdHO) both theoretically and experimentally. The electronic and structural characteristics of GdHO, vital for ceramic technology, are thoroughly examined. Explicitly determined work functions for GdH2, GdHO, and Gd2O3 stand at 3.4 eV, 3.0 eV, and 4.3 eV, respectively. Bader charge analysis showcases GdHO’s intricate bonding attributes, whereas its electron localization function majorly presents an ionic nature. The charge neutrality level is situated about 0.33 eV below the top valence band, highlighting these materials’ inclination for acceptor-dominant electrical conductivity. Remarkably, this research unveils GdHO films’ photocatalytic capabilities for the first time. Even with their restricted surface due to thinness, these films follow the Langmuir–Hinshelwood degradation kinetics, ensuring total degradation of methylene blue in a day. It was observed that GdHO’s work function diminishes with reduced deposition pressure, and UV exposure further decreases it by 0.2 eV—a change that reverts post-UV exposure. The persistent stability of GdHO films, hinting at feasible recyclability, enhances their potential efficiency, underlining their viability in practical applications. Overall, this study accentuates GdHO’s pivotal role in electronics and photocatalysis, representing a landmark advancement in the domain.
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