Alcohol-dispersible semiconducting polymer nanoparticle for application in organic solar cells

Abstract

A potential route to achieve eco-friendly fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs) is to prepare nanoparticle (NP) dispersions of the semiconducting materials in environmentally friendly solvents such as water or alcohol. The literature discusses two approaches of forming NP dispersions- a) using commercial surfactants such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and b) surfactant-free approach. The former approach resulted in devices with low performance due to presence of residual surfactant in the photoactive layer. Devices with an improved performance could be fabricated using the latter approach, but it provides less control on NP formation. This PhD was directed to study the limitations asso..