High efficiency nanostructured electrodes for organic optoelectronics

有机光伏（OPVs）代表了一种新兴的潜在替代昂贵和不灵活的无机光伏技术。为了使人们能够负担得起光伏发电，每千瓦峰值的价格需要低于0.3美元/平方米。由于成本低，有机技术在经济上可行之前，只需要在性能效率方面取得适度的进步。一般来说，器件的性能和稳定性取决于高功能（即氧化铟锡）和低功能（即铝）电极的电极结构。结合各种中间层是提高器件效率和运行稳定性的主要设计策略，以达到10-10目标（10%的效率-10年的使用寿命）。环境处理技术是生产廉价设备的关键。因此，本研究项目的主要创新目标是利用非真空技术，特别是纳米颗粒的反胶束沉积技术，实现可行的有机器件结构电极的生产。这种方法将提供一种生产周期性结构的系统方法，同时消除对热蒸发的需要。在电极上引入纳米颗粒阵列可以改变表面功函数和形貌，从而导致更高性能的器件。通过使用反向胶束方法，可以利用调整电子结构和形态的能力，将选择的中间层材料的作用从分散和粗糙度中分离出来。关键的第一步是用可调的色散生产和表征每个电极，然后用新电极生产二极管，并将它们与传统生产的电极进行效率和寿命的基准测试。期望的结果是双重的。一个目标是建立可行的替代传统生产的电极，具有可控和可调谐的界面粗糙度和周期性。第二个目标是阐明纳米颗粒分散在两个电极界面上改善器件性能和稳定性的机制，以及界面粗糙度对器件性能的影响。

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) represent an emerging potential alternative to costly and inflexible inorganic PV technologies. To make PV affordable, the price per kilowatt-peak needs to be below $0.3/m2. Due to their low cost, organic technologies need to make only modest gains in performance efficiency before becoming economically viable. In general, device performance and stability has been observed to depend on the electrode structure of both the high (i.e. indium tin oxide) and low function (i.e. Al) electrode. Incorporation of various interlayers is a major design strategy for improving the device efficiency and operational stability to reach 10-10 targets (10% efficiency-10 year lifetime). Ambient processing techniques are the key to producing inexpensive devices. Therefore, the main targeted innovation of this research program is to realize the production of viable structured electrodes for organic devices using non-vacuum techniques, in particular reverse micelle deposition of nanoparticles. Such an approach would provide a systematic means of producing periodic structures, while simultaneously eliminating the need for thermal evaporation. The introduction of nanoparticle arrays at the electrodes has been seen to modify the surface work function and the morphology, leading to higher performance devices. By using the reverse micelle approach, it will be possible to uncouple the role of the material chosen for the interlayer from the dispersion and roughness, by taking advantage of the ability to tune the electronic structure and morphology. The essential first step is producing and characterizing each of the electrodes, with tunable dispersions, then producing diodes with the new electrodes and benchmarking them with the traditionally produced electrodes for both efficiency and lifetime. The desired outcomes are two fold. One goal is to establish viable alternatives to traditionally produced electrodes, with controllable and tuneable interface roughness and periodicity. A second goal is to clarify the mechanisms for the improvement of device performance and stability with nanoparticle dispersions at both electrode interfaces, and the impact of interface roughness on the device properties.