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Mesoscale Simulations on Morphology Design in Conjugated Polymers and Inorganic Nanoparticles Composite for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Komarov Pavel V.,
Baburkin Pavel O.,
Ivanov Viktor A.,
Li Yi-Lun,
Chen Show-An,
Khokhlov Alexei R.
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
solar rrl
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.544
H-Index - 37
ISSN - 2367-198X
DOI - 10.1002/solr.202000352
Subject(s) - materials science , polymer solar cell , nanoparticle , conjugated system , chemical engineering , polymer , photoactive layer , morphology (biology) , nanocomposite , heterojunction , quantum dot , thiophene , composite number , energy conversion efficiency , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , composite material , chemistry , biology , engineering , genetics
Mixtures of conjugated polymers (CPs) as donors and inorganic semiconducting nanoparticles (NPs) as acceptors are considered to be promising materials for photoactive layers of bulk heterojunction hybrid solar cells (HSCs). To reach the high power conversion efficiency of HSC, the morphology of the photoactive layer for providing optimal charge transport paths is designed. Herein, the coarse‐grained model for predicting the morphology of nanocomposites based on semiconducting CPs and NPs is used. For polymer matrix, well‐known CPs such as poly(3‐hexythiophene) (P3HT), poly [thieno [3,4‐b] thiophene/benzodithiophen] (PTB7), and poly [[2,6′‐4,8‐ di(5‐ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2‐b;3,3‐b] dithiophene][3‐fluoro‐ 2[(2‐ethylhexyl) carbonyl] thieno[3,4‐b]thiophenediyl]] (PTB7‐Th) are selected. For NP fillers, PbS quantum dots modified by ligands (like, e.g., oleic acid) are selected. Via mesoscale computer simulations, it is shown that by choosing appropriate ligands for NPs and varying the weight fraction of NPs, the morphology with bicontinuous charge transport paths for holes and electrons is obtained. Such morphologies are observed in models of homopolymer/NP blends for the first time. This finding is in reasonable agreement with the recent experimental results on these systems.