title: Synergistic Effects of Electric-Field-Assisted Annealing and Thermal Annealing in Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells.
abstract: We propose an optimum low-temperature-based annealing procedure for semicrystalline donor-fullerene solar cells that is well-suited for plastic and flexible substrates. This proposed alternate strategy utilizes an external electric field (EF) across the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) film during processing at a desired temperature. This processing technique is studied for different molecular weights of the donor in the BHJ blend films. The films indicate an increase in interchain interactions of the semicrystalline polymer chains and an enhancement in hole mobility with EF-assisted annealing treatment. Besides being a controlled method, this processing technique is capable of yielding solar cell devices with performance equivalent to or better than those obtained using plain thermal procedures.
authors.affiliation: Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research , Jakkur, Bengaluru 560064, Karnataka India.
authors.forename: Raaghesh
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Vijayan
authors.affiliation: Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research , Jakkur, Bengaluru 560064, Karnataka India.
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Swathi
authors.affiliation: Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research , Jakkur, Bengaluru 560064, Karnataka India.
authors.forename: K S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Narayan
keywords: MIS-CELIV; bulk-heterojunction solar cells; charge transport; conjugated polymers; electric-field-assisted annealing; fullerenes