IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v12y2021i1d10.1038_s41467-021-26510-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Uncovering the out-of-plane nanomorphology of organic photovoltaic bulk heterojunction by GTSAXS

Author

Listed:
  • Xinxin Xia

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Tsz-Ki Lau

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Xuyun Guo

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom)

  • Yuhao Li

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Minchao Qin

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Kuan Liu

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon)

  • Zeng Chen

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Xiaozhi Zhan

    (Spallation Neutron Source Science Center
    Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Yiqun Xiao

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Pok Fung Chan

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Heng Liu

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Luhang Xu

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Guilong Cai

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

  • Na Li

    (Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science)

  • Haiming Zhu

    (Zhejiang University)

  • Gang Li

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon)

  • Ye Zhu

    (The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom)

  • Tao Zhu

    (Chinese Academy of Sciences)

  • Xiaowei Zhan

    (Peking University)

  • Xun-Li Wang

    (City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon)

  • Xinhui Lu

    (The Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories)

Abstract

The bulk morphology of the active layer of organic solar cells (OSCs) is known to be crucial to the device performance. The thin film device structure breaks the symmetry into the in-plane direction and out-of-plane direction with respect to the substrate, leading to an intrinsic anisotropy in the bulk morphology. However, the characterization of out-of-plane nanomorphology within the active layer remains a grand challenge. Here, we utilized an X-ray scattering technique, Grazing-incident Transmission Small-angle X-ray Scattering (GTSAXS), to uncover this new morphology dimension. This technique was implemented on the model systems based on fullerene derivative (P3HT:PC71BM) and non-fullerene systems (PBDBT:ITIC, PM6:Y6), which demonstrated the successful extraction of the quantitative out-of-plane acceptor domain size of OSC systems. The detected in-plane and out-of-plane domain sizes show strong correlations with the device performance, particularly in terms of exciton dissociation and charge transfer. With the help of GTSAXS, one could obtain a more fundamental perception about the three-dimensional nanomorphology and new angles for morphology control strategies towards highly efficient photovoltaic devices.

Suggested Citation

  • Xinxin Xia & Tsz-Ki Lau & Xuyun Guo & Yuhao Li & Minchao Qin & Kuan Liu & Zeng Chen & Xiaozhi Zhan & Yiqun Xiao & Pok Fung Chan & Heng Liu & Luhang Xu & Guilong Cai & Na Li & Haiming Zhu & Gang Li & Y, 2021. "Uncovering the out-of-plane nanomorphology of organic photovoltaic bulk heterojunction by GTSAXS," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-26510-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26510-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-26510-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-021-26510-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yuhang Liu & Jingbo Zhao & Zhengke Li & Cheng Mu & Wei Ma & Huawei Hu & Kui Jiang & Haoran Lin & Harald Ade & He Yan, 2014. "Aggregation and morphology control enables multiple cases of high-efficiency polymer solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 5(1), pages 1-8, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yuanyuan Jiang & Yixin Li & Feng Liu & Wenxuan Wang & Wenli Su & Wuyue Liu & Songjun Liu & Wenkai Zhang & Jianhui Hou & Shengjie Xu & Yuanping Yi & Xiaozhang Zhu, 2023. "Suppressing electron-phonon coupling in organic photovoltaics for high-efficiency power conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Baobing Fan & Wei Gao & Xuanhao Wu & Xinxin Xia & Yue Wu & Francis R. Lin & Qunping Fan & Xinhui Lu & Wen Jung Li & Wei Ma & Alex K.-Y. Jen, 2022. "Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Guo, Lukai & Wang, Hao, 2022. "Non-intrusive movable energy harvesting devices: Materials, designs, and their prospective uses on transportation infrastructures," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    2. Mehmood, Umer & Al-Ahmed, Amir & Hussein, Ibnelwaleed A., 2016. "Review on recent advances in polythiophene based photovoltaic devices," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 550-561.
    3. Yang-Yang Zhou & Yu-Chun Xu & Ze-Fan Yao & Jia-Ye Li & Chen-Kai Pan & Yang Lu & Chi-Yuan Yang & Li Ding & Bu-Fan Xiao & Xin-Yi Wang & Yu Shao & Wen-Bin Zhang & Jie-Yu Wang & Huan Wang & Jian Pei, 2023. "Visualizing the multi-level assembly structures of conjugated molecular systems with chain-length dependent behavior," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Ibn-Mohammed, T. & Koh, S.C.L. & Reaney, I.M. & Acquaye, A. & Schileo, G. & Mustapha, K.B. & Greenough, R., 2017. "Perovskite solar cells: An integrated hybrid lifecycle assessment and review in comparison with other photovoltaic technologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 1321-1344.
    5. Zhen Luo & Bo Yang & Yiming Bai & Tasawar Hayat & Ahmed Alsaedi & Zhan’ao Tan, 2018. "Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with Alcohol-Soluble Zirconium(IV) Isopropoxide Cathode Buffer Layer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-11, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:12:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-021-26510-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.