Spin-Based Diagnostic of Nanostructure in Copper Phthalocyanine–C₆₀ Solar Cell Blends

Nanostructure and molecular orientation play a crucial role in determining the functionality of organic thin films. In practical devices, such as organic solar cells consisting of donor–acceptor mixtures, crystallinity is poor and these qualities cannot be readily determined by conventional diffraction techniques, while common microscopy only reveals surface morphology. Using a simple nondestructive technique, namely, continuous-wave electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy, which exploits the well-understood angular dependence of the <i>g</i>-factor and hyperfine tensors, we show that in the solar cell blend of C₆₀ and copper phthalocyanine (CuPc)for which X-ray diffraction gives no informationthe CuPc, and by implication the C₆₀, molecules form nanoclusters, with the planes of the CuPc molecules oriented perpendicular to the film surface. This information demonstrates that the current nanostructure in CuPc:C₆₀ solar cells is far from optimal and suggests that their efficiency could be considerably increased by alternative film growth algorithms