Studying Morphology Formation and Charge Separation in Organic Solar Cells

We are currently living in the era of automation and artificial intelligence, which requires more energy than ever before. Meanwhile, the reduction of carbon footprint is needed for keeping the environment sustainable. Exploring green energy is crucial. Solar power is one of the green energy sources. The apparatus that converts solar energy to electricity is a solar cell. Organic solar cells (OSCs), employing organic materials absorbing solar radiation and converting to electricity have got extensive attention in the last decades due to their unique advantages like lightweight, semi-transparency, and potential industrialization. In most cases, an OSC composes of two different organic semiconductors as electron donor and acceptor to form a photoactive layer with a bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structure, and sandwiched between the electron and hole transport layers and then two electrodes. The morphology of the BHJ plays a crucial role in the device's performance, and it is a result of a complicated interplay between donor, acceptor, and solvent during the film drying from a solution. Thus, in-situ monitoring the film drying during solvent evaporation could deepen understanding of the mechanism of the morphology formation. A versatile multiple spectroscopic setup is assembled for this purpose, which can record laser scattering, steady-state photoluminescence (PL), time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL), and white-light absorption during film formation. By comparing the drying dynamics of three different blend systems with their corresponding pristine films, we find that the blend film formation and its final morphology are more dominated by the component with a higher molecular weight. Different PL and TRPL quenching profiles between fullerene- and non-fullerene-based systems provide hints about different donor-acceptor interactions. Moreover, with the help of TRPL, the relative change of quantum yield during film formation can be calculated. Besides, this setup is also proved suitable for studying mechanisms behind device optimization processes, like the usage of solvent additives. One of the unique features of OSCs based on non-fullerene acceptors is the highly efficient hole transfer from the acceptor to the donor, sometimes even under zero or negative energetic offsets. However, in these cases the mechanism of hole transfer has not been fully understood. By studying hole transfer at the donor:acceptor interface in different material systems and device configurations, we highlight the role of electric field on the charge separation of OSCs when energetic offsets are not enough. To achieve better device performance, engineering the photoelectric properties of interfacial layers is equally essential. A good interfacial layer can facilitate carrier extraction and reduce carrier recombination. We demonstrate that adding MXenes into the PEDOT:PSS can increase the conductivity of this composite hole transport layer, without sacrificing its optical transparency and work function