| 1. |
- Bäcke, Olof, 1984, et al.
(författare)
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Mapping fullerene crystallization in a photovoltaic blend: an electron tomography study
- 2015
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Ingår i: Nanoscale. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2040-3372 .- 2040-3364. ; 7:18, s. 8451-8456
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The formation of fullerene crystals represents a major degradation pathway of polymer/fullerene bulk-heterojunction thin films that inexorably deteriorates their photovoltaic performance. Currently no tools exist that reveal the origin of fullerene crystal formation vertically through the film. Here, we show that electron tomography can be used to study nucleation and growth of fullerene crystals. A model bulk-heterojunction blend based on a thiophene-quinoxaline copolymer and a fullerene derivative is examined after controlled annealing above the glass transition temperature. We image a number of fullerene nanocrystals, ranging in size from 70 to 400 nanometers, and observe that their center is located close to the free-surface of spin-coated films. The results show that the nucleation of fullerene crystals predominately occurs in the upper part of the films. Moreover, electron tomography reveals that the nucleation is preceded by more pronounced phase separation of the blend components.
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| 2. |
- Diaz de Zerio Mendaza, Amaia, 1986, et al.
(författare)
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High-Entropy Mixtures of Pristine Fullerenes for Solution-Processed Transistors and Solar Cells
- 2015
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Ingår i: Advanced Materials. - : Wiley. - 0935-9648 .- 1521-4095. ; 27:45, s. 7325-7331
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The solubility of pristine fullerenes can be enhanced by mixing C60 and C70 due to the associated increase in configurational entropy. This "entropic dissolution" allows the preparation of field-effect transistors with an electron mobility of 1 cm2 V-1 s-1 and polymer solar cells with a highly reproducible power-conversion efficiency of 6%, as well as a thermally stable active layer.
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| 3. |
- Kroon, Renee, 1982, et al.
(författare)
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Comparison of selenophene and thienothiophene incorporation into pentacyclic lactam-based conjugated polymers for organic solar cells
- 2015
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Ingår i: Polymer Chemistry. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 1759-9954 .- 1759-9962. ; 6:42, s. 7402-7409
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this work, we compare the effect of incorporating selenophene versus thienothiophene spacers into pentacyclic lactam-based conjugated polymers for organic solar cells. The two cyclic lactam-based copolymers were obtained via a new synthetic method for the lactam moiety. Selenophene incorporation results in a broader and red-shifted optical absorption while retaining a deep highest occupied molecular orbital level, whereas thienothienophene incorporation results in a blue-shifted optical absorption. Additionally, grazing-incidence wide angle X-ray scattering data indicates edge- and face-on solid state order for the selenophene-based polymer as compared to the thienothiophene-based polymer, which orders predominantly edge-on with respect to the substrate. In polymer : PC71BM bulk heterojunction solar cells both materials show a similar open-circuit voltage of similar to 0.80-0.84 V, however the selenophene-based polymer displays a higher fill factor of similar to 0.70 vs. similar to 0.65. This is due to the partial face-on backbone orientation of the selenophene-based polymer, leading to a higher hole mobility, as confirmed by single-carrier diode measurements, and a concomitantly higher fill factor. Combined with improved spectral coverage of the selenophene-based polymer, as confirmed by quantum efficiency experiments, it offers a larger short-circuit current density of similar to 12 mA cm(-2). Despite the relatively low molecular weight of both materials, a very robust power conversion efficiency similar to 7% is achieved for the selenophene-based polymer, while the thienothiophene-based polymer demonstrates only a moderate maximum PCE of similar to 5.5%. Hence, the favorable effects of selenophene incorporation on the photovoltaic performance of pentacyclic lactam-based conjugated polymers are clearly demonstrated.
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| 4. |
- Tian, Yuxi, et al.
(författare)
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Molecular Weight Determination by Counting Molecules
- 2015
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Ingår i: The Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 1948-7185 .- 1089-5639 .- 1520-5215. ; 6:6, s. 923-927
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Molecular weight (MW) is one of the most important characteristics of macromolecules. Sometimes, MW cannot be measured correctly by conventional methods like gel permeation chromatography (GPC) due to, for example, aggregation. We propose using single-molecule spectroscopy to measure the average MW simply by counting individual fluorescent molecules embedded in a thin matrix film at known mass concentration. We tested the method on dye molecules, a labeled protein, and the conjugated polymer MEH-PPV. We showed that GPC with polystyrene calibration overestimates the MW of large MEH-PPV molecules by 40 times due to chain aggregation and stiffness. This is a crucial observation for understanding correlations between the conjugated polymer length, photophysics and performances of devices. The method can measure the MW of fluorescent molecules, biological objects, and nanoparticles at ultimately low concentrations and does not need any reference; it is conformation-independent and has no limitations regarding the detected MW range.
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