Calamatic liquid crystal blends for organic photovoltaics

Chunghong Lei; Manea S. Al Khalifah; Mary O'Neill; Matthew P. Aldred; Stuart P. Kitney; Panagiotis Vlachos; Stephen M. Kelly

doi:10.1117/12.794260

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27 August 2008 Calamatic liquid crystal blends for organic photovoltaics

Chunghong Lei, Manea S. Al Khalifah, Mary O'Neill, Matthew P. Aldred, Stuart P. Kitney, Panagiotis Vlachos, Stephen M. Kelly

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Proceedings Volume 7052, Organic Photovoltaics IX; 705214 (2008) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.794260
Event: Photonic Devices + Applications, 2008, San Diego, California, United States

Abstract

Four different perylene-based electron-acceptors having similar electron affinities, but different thermotropic phases are blended with nematic liquid crystalline electron-donors with a fluorene-thiophene structure to form single layer photovoltaic devices. Best results are obtained when the nematic donor is mixed with an amorphous acceptor to give a supercooled nematic glass at room temperature. Atomic force microscopy operating in the phase contrast mode reveals phase separation on a nanometer scale with a broad distribution of domain sizes peaking at 26 nm. We correlate the morphology of the different blends with the performance of the photovoltaic devices. Power conversion efficiencies up to 0.9 % are obtained with excitation at 470 nm.

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Chunghong Lei, Manea S. Al Khalifah, Mary O'Neill, Matthew P. Aldred, Stuart P. Kitney, Panagiotis Vlachos, and Stephen M. Kelly "Calamatic liquid crystal blends for organic photovoltaics", Proc. SPIE 7052, Organic Photovoltaics IX, 705214 (27 August 2008); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.794260

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