Abstract
Our previous study presented up to 20% power conversion efficiency (PCE) enhancement of poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) solar cells under the Fe3O4 nanoparticles (NPs) self-assembly (SA) effect by spin coating. Fe3O4 NPs (about 11 nm hydrodynamic diameter) form a thin layer at the top interface of the light absorbing active layer, which results in the generation of PCBM rich region improving the charge transport (Zhang et al. Sol Energ Mat Sol C 160:126–133, 2017). In order to investigate the feasibility of this Fe3O4 NPs SA effect under large-scale production condition, a smooth rod was implemented to mimic roll-to-roll coating technique and yield active layers having about the same thickness as the spin-coated ones. Small angle neutron scattering and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction were employed finding out similar morphologies of the active layers by these two coating techniques. However, rod-coated solar cell’s PCE decreases with the addition of Fe3O4 NPs compared with the one without them. This is because PCBM rich region is not created at the top interface of the active layer due to the absence of Fe3O4 NPs, which is attributed to the weak convective flow and low diffusion rate. Moreover, in the rod-coated solar cells, the presence of Fe3O4 NPs causes decrease in P3HT crystallinity, thus the charge transport and the device performance. Our study confirms the role of spin coating in the Fe3O4 NPs SA effect and enables researchers to explore this finding in other polymer nanocomposite systems.
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Acknowledgements
This paper’s writing was supported by the UESTC’s New Faculty Fund. Experimental work of this study was accomplished at University of Delaware during Dr. Zhang’s PhD studies. It was supported by NIST Award 70NANB10H256 through the Center for Neutron Science at University of Delaware. The authors acknowledge the support from National Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Commerce, in providing the neutron research facilities used in this work. The authors also thank Prof. David Martin for usage of the UV-vis spectrometer. Mr. Frank Kriss and Prof. Chaoying Ni’s help on the use of microtome is greatly appreciated.
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Zhang, W., Nguyen, N.A., Murray, R. et al. A comparative study on the morphology of P3HT:PCBM solar cells with the addition of Fe3O4 nanoparticles by spin and rod coating methods. J Nanopart Res 19, 315 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-4016-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-017-4016-2