Influence of blend microstructure on bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic performance

Christoph J. Brabec, Martin Heeney, Iain Mc Culloch, Jenny Nelson

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

520 Scopus citations

Abstract

The performance of organic photovoltaic devices based upon bulk heterojunction blends of donor and acceptor materials has been shown to be highly dependent on the thin film microstructure. In this tutorial review, we discuss the factors responsible for influencing blend microstructure and how these affect device performance. In particular we discuss how various molecular design approaches can affect the thin film morphology of both the donor and acceptor components, as well as their blend microstructure. We further examine the influence of polymer molecular weight and blend composition upon device performance, and discuss how a variety of processing techniques can be used to control the blend microstructure, leading to improvements in solar cell efficiencies. © 2011 The Royal Society of Chemistry.
Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1185-1199
Number of pages15
JournalChemical Society Reviews
Volume40
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 22 2011
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry

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