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Significance of Polymeric Nanowire-Network Structures for Stable and Efficient Organic Solar Cells

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Abstract

Evolution of favourable nanomorphology which can withstand external stimuli is a critical issue for efficient and stable organic solar cells. Here, we demonstrate a novel strategy for the stabilization of nanomorphology of organic solar cells by inducing polymeric nanowire network structures. Thermal annealing of poly(3- hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) nanowires, highly crystalline, 1-dimensional structures held together through interchain π-π stacking, led to the formation of nanowire network structures confirmed through small angle neutron scattering measurements. The physically interconnected network structures form robust electron donor domains and impose confinement which suppresses the aggregation of the electron acceptor, [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butylric acid methyl ester. Organic solar cells having the nanowire network structures showed increased power conversion efficiencies and dramatically enhanced thermal stability compared to bulk heterojunction (BHJ) and non-network nanowire-based devices. Furthermore, the performance of the nanowire network-based devices was inversely related to the size of the networks, attesting to the significance of nanoconfined geometry formed within nanowire network structures.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The National Creative Research Initiative Center for Intelligent Hybrids, The WCU Program of Chemical Convergence for Energy & Environment, School of Chemical & Biological Engineering, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Jongkuk Ko & Kookheon Char

  2. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Interuniversity Semiconductor Research Center, Seoul National University, Seoul, 08826, Korea

    Jiyun Song & Changhee Lee

  3. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, 30318, USA

    Won Tae Choi

  4. HANARO Center, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Daejeon, 34057, Korea

    Tae-Hwan Kim & Young-Soo Han

  5. Department of Chemistry, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, 02447, Korea

    Jeewoo Lim

Authors
  1. Jongkuk Ko
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  2. Jiyun Song
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  3. Won Tae Choi
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  4. Tae-Hwan Kim
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  5. Young-Soo Han
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  6. Jeewoo Lim
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  7. Changhee Lee
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  8. Kookheon Char
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Jeewoo Lim, Changhee Lee or Kookheon Char.

Additional information

Acknowledgments: This work was supported by National Creative Research Initiative Center for Intelligent Hybrids (No. 2010-0018290) funded by the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF), and the BK21 Plus Program funded by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology (MEST) of Korea. This work was also supported by the Mid-career Researcher Program (2016R1A2B3009301) funded by the NRF and the Technology Innovation Program (or Industrial Strategic Technology Development Program) (No.10077471) funded by the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy (MOTIE, Korea).

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Ko, J., Song, J., Choi, W.T. et al. Significance of Polymeric Nanowire-Network Structures for Stable and Efficient Organic Solar Cells. Macromol. Res. 26, 623–629 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-018-6088-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13233-018-6088-y

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