Guiding phase separation in polymer/PCBM films via surface patterning

ANYL 186

Lee Y. Park, lpark@williams.edu, Department of Chemistry, Williams College, Williamstown, MA 01267 and David S. Ginger Jr., ginger@chem.washington.edu, Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Box 351700, Seattle, WA 98195-1700.
Previous work has shown that surface patterning techniques (micro-contact printing and Dip-Pen Nanolithography (DPN)) can be used to template phase separation in thin polymer blend films. The ability to guide phase separation in thin films is of particular interest for applications in conjugated polymer solar cells where device efficiency is known to depend on the morphology of the active layer, typically composed of either poly[2-methoxy-5-(3',7'-dimethyloctyloxy)-1,4-phenylenevinylene] (MDMO-PPV) or poly[3-hexylthiophene] (P3HT) mixed with [6,6]-phenylC61butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). Here we demonstrate that by patterning surfaces with fullerene (C60) we can guide phase separation in MDMO-PPV/PCBM and P3HT/PCBM films, and thus alter the photocurrent across the surface of these films. The effect of varying the size and scale of surface patterns on the observed morphologies and measured photovoltaic properties is discussed.
 

Directed Assemblies Using Surface Templates
1:25 PM-4:45 PM, Wednesday, April 9, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 335, Oral

Division of Analytical Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008