Ternary donor-insulator-acceptor systems for polymer solar cells.
A series of block copolymers with fixed length of the semiconductor-block poly(3-butylthiophene) (P3BT) and varying length of the insulator-block polystyrene (PS) are synthesized. These copolymers are blended with phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) for the bulk heterojunction photoactive layers. With appropriate insulator-block length and donor-acceptor ratio, the power conversion efficiency increases by one order of magnitude compared with reference devices with pure P3BT/PCBM. PS blocks improve the miscibility of the active layer blends remarkably. The P3BT-b-PS crystallizes as nanorods with the P3BT core covered with the PS-block, which creates a nanoscale tunneling barrier between donor and acceptor leading to more efficient transportation of charge carriers in the semiconductors.
Polymer Composites Engineering Laboratory, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130022, PR China.
Sijun
S
Li
Guanghao
G
Lu
Hui
H
Li
Yunpeng
Y
Qu
Ligui
L
Li
Joachim
J
Loos
Xiaoniu
X
Yang
D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D043942:Nanotubes / Q000737:chemistry; D011108:Polymers / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012666:Semiconductors; D012993:Solar Energy
D011108:Polymers