TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermal cycling effect on mechanical integrity of inverted polymer solar cells
AU - Balcaen, Veerle
AU - Rolston, Nicholas
AU - Dupont, Stephanie R.
AU - Voroshazi, Eszter
AU - Dauskardt, Reinhold H.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-11-04
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21
Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under Award no. KUS-C1-015-21. Part of this work was performed at the Stanford Nano Shared Facilities (SNSF).
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The role of thermal cycling of inverted P3HT:PCBM-based polymer solar cells is reported. We found that thermal cycling between -40 °C and 85 °C up to 200 cycles had no significant effect on solar cell efficiency and mechanical integrity. On the contrary, the solar cells exhibited a slight increase in fracture resistance, similar to that reported for a post-electrode deposition thermal annealing at 85 °C. Gc increased from 2.6 J/m2 for our control solar cells to a sustained maximum value of 4.0 J/m2 after 25 thermal cycles. Surface analysis on the fractured samples revealed the formation of an intermixed layer between P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS, causing the debond path to change from adhesive between P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS to meandering through the intermixed layer. A kinetic analysis was used to model the effect of thermal cycling on the Gc values of polymer cells. The model revealed for cycling between -40 °C and 85 °C that 25 cycles are needed to reach the maximum Gc, which is consistent with our experimental results. After 5 thermal cycles, the effects of heating and cooling have little impact on the mechanical stability of polymer solar cells.
AB - The role of thermal cycling of inverted P3HT:PCBM-based polymer solar cells is reported. We found that thermal cycling between -40 °C and 85 °C up to 200 cycles had no significant effect on solar cell efficiency and mechanical integrity. On the contrary, the solar cells exhibited a slight increase in fracture resistance, similar to that reported for a post-electrode deposition thermal annealing at 85 °C. Gc increased from 2.6 J/m2 for our control solar cells to a sustained maximum value of 4.0 J/m2 after 25 thermal cycles. Surface analysis on the fractured samples revealed the formation of an intermixed layer between P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS, causing the debond path to change from adhesive between P3HT:PCBM and PEDOT:PSS to meandering through the intermixed layer. A kinetic analysis was used to model the effect of thermal cycling on the Gc values of polymer cells. The model revealed for cycling between -40 °C and 85 °C that 25 cycles are needed to reach the maximum Gc, which is consistent with our experimental results. After 5 thermal cycles, the effects of heating and cooling have little impact on the mechanical stability of polymer solar cells.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/673113
UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0927024815003566
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84938921945&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2015.07.019
DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2015.07.019
M3 - Article
SN - 1879-3398
VL - 143
SP - 418
EP - 423
JO - SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
JF - SOLAR ENERGY MATERIALS AND SOLAR CELLS
ER -