Search

The alignment of organic semiconductors (OSCs) in the active layers of electronic devices can confer desirable properties, such as enhanced charge transport properties due to better ordering, charge transport anisotropy for reduced device cross-talk, and polarized light emission or absorption. The solution-based deposition of highly aligned small molecule OSCs has been widely demonstrated, but the alignment of polymeric OSCs in thin films deposited directly from solution has typically required surface templating or complex pre- or postdeposition processing. Therefore, single-step solution processing and the charge transport enhancement afforded by alignment continue to be attractive. We report here the use of solution shearing to tune the degree of alignment in poly(diketopyrrolopyrrole-terthiophene) thin films by controlling the coating speed. A maximum dichroic ratio of ∼7 was achieved on unpatterned substrates without any additional pre- or postdeposition processing. The degree of polymer alignment was found to be a competition between the shear alignment of polymer chains in solution and the complex thin film drying process. Contrary to previous reports, no charge transport anisotropy was observed because of the small crystallite size relative to the channel length, a meshlike morphology, and the likelihood of increased grain boundaries in the direction transverse to coating. In fact, the lack of aligned morphological structures, coupled with observed anisotropy in X-ray diffraction data, suggests the alignment of polymer molecules in both the crystalline and the amorphous regions of the films. The shear speed at which maximum dichroism is achieved can be controlled by altering deposition parameters such as temperature and substrate treatment. Modest changes in molecular weight showed negligible effects on alignment, while longer polymer alkyl side chains were found to reduce the degree of alignment. This work demonstrates that solution shearing can be used to tune polymer alignment in a one-step deposition process not requiring substrate patterning or any postdeposition treatment.

Organic bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells are a promising alternative for future clean-energy applications. However, to become attractive for consumer applications, such as wearable, flexible, or semitransparent power-generating electronics, they need to be manufactured by high-throughput, low-cost, large-area-capable printing techniques. However, most research reported on BHJ solar cells is conducted using spin coating, a single batch fabrication method, thus limiting the reported results to the research lab. In this work, we investigate the morphology of solution-sheared films for BHJ solar cell applications, using the widely studied model blend P3HT:PCBM. Solution shearing is a coating technique that is upscalable to industrial manufacturing processes and has demonstrated to yield record performance organic field-effect transistors. Using grazing incident small-angle X-ray scattering, grazing incident wide-angle X-ray scattering, and UV–vis spectroscopy, we investigate the influence of solvent, film drying time, and substrate temperature on P3HT aggregation, conjugation length, crystallite orientation, and PCBM domain size. One important finding of this study is that, in contrast to spin-coated films, the P3HT molecular orientation can be controlled by the substrate chemistry, with PEDOT:PSS substrates yielding face-on orientation at the substrate–film interface, an orientation highly favorable for organic solar cells.

We describe a compact roll-to-roll (R2R) coater that is capable of tracking the crystallization process of semiconducting polymers during solution printing using X-ray scattering at synchrotron beamlines. An improved understanding of the morphology evolution during the solution-processing of organic semiconductor materials during R2R coating processes is necessary to bridge the gap between “lab” and “fab”. The instrument consists of a vacuum chuck to hold the flexible plastic substrate uniformly flat for grazing incidence X-ray scattering. The time resolution of the drying process that is achievable can be tuned by controlling two independent motor speeds, namely, the speed of the moving flexible substrate and the speed of the printer head moving in the opposite direction. With this novel design, we are able to achieve a wide range of drying time resolutions, from tens of milliseconds to seconds. This allows examination of the crystallization process over either fast or slow drying processes depending on coating conditions. Using regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) inks based on two different solvents as a model system, we demonstrate the capability of our in situ R2R printing tool by observing two distinct crystallization processes for inks drying from the solvents with different boiling points (evaporation rates). We also observed delayed on-set point for the crystallization of P3HT polymer in the 1:1 P3HT/PCBM BHJ blend, and the inhibited crystallization of the P3HT during the late stage of the drying process.

Improving the resolution in x-ray microscopes is of high priority to enable future applications in nanoscience. However, high-resolution zone-plate optics often have low efficiency, which makes implementation in laboratory microscopes difficult. We present a laboratory x-ray microscope based on a compound zone plate. The compound zone plate utilizes multiple diffraction orders to achieve high resolution while maintaining reasonable efficiency. We analyze the illumination conditions necessary for this type of optics in order to suppress stray light and demonstrate microscopic imaging resolving 25 nm features.