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Visualization of Hierarchical Nanodomains in Polymer/Fullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 June 2014

Jianguo Wen ,
Dean J. Miller ,
Wei Chen ,
Tao Xu ,
Luping Yu ,
Seth B. Darling  and
Nestor J. Zaluzec
Jianguo Wen*
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Electron Microscopy Center, Nanoscience and Technology Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
Dean J. Miller*
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Electron Microscopy Center, Nanoscience and Technology Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
Wei Chen
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Materials Science Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA Institute for Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, 5747 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Tao Xu
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, 929 E 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Luping Yu
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, The James Franck Institute, The University of Chicago, 929 E 57th Street, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Seth B. Darling
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Center for Nanoscale Materials, Nanoscience and Technology Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA Institute for Molecular Engineering, The University of Chicago, 5747 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Nestor J. Zaluzec
Affiliation:
Argonne National Laboratory, Electron Microscopy Center, Nanoscience and Technology Division, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA
*
*Corresponding author. [email protected]; [email protected]
*Corresponding author. [email protected]; [email protected]
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Abstract

Traditional electron microscopy techniques such as bright-field imaging provide poor contrast for organic films and identification of structures in amorphous material can be problematic, particularly in high-performance organic solar cells. By combining energy-filtered corrected transmission electron microscopy, together with electron energy loss and X-ray energy-dispersive hyperspectral imaging, we have imaged PTB7/PC61BM blended polymer optical photovoltaic films, and were able to identify domains ranging in size from several hundred nanometers to several nanometers in extent. This work verifies that microstructural domains exist in bulk heterojunctions in PTB7/PC61BM polymeric solar cells at multiple length scales and expands our understanding of optimal device performance providing insight for the design of even higher performance cells.

Keywords

organic photovoltaicsenergy-filtered transmission electron microscopychromatic aberration correctionelectron energy-loss spectroscopyX-ray energy-dispersive spectroscopy
Type
Materials Applications
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 20 , Issue 5 , October 2014 , pp. 1507 - 1513
Copyright
© Microscopy Society of America 2014 

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