Regensburg 2013 – scientific programme
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CPP: Fachverband Chemische Physik und Polymerphysik
CPP 14: Crystallization, Nucleation and Self Assembly I
CPP 14.5: Talk
Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 10:30–10:45, H39
10-nm structure formation induced by crystallization in P3HT/PCBM blends — •Alessandro Sepe1, Peter Kohn1, Zhuxia Rong1, Kai H. Scherer1, Michael Sommer2, Peter Müller-Buschbaum3, Richard H. Friend1, Ullrich Steiner1, and Sven Hüttner1 — 1Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK — 2Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany — 3Lehrstuhl für Funktionelle Materialien, Physik-Department, TU München, Garching, Germany
Structural characterisation of novel semiconducting polymers is of great importance to the development of new materials for organic electronic applications. The solubility and aggregation of [6,6]-phenyl C61butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) within a polymer matrix is of great interest for the development of fullerene based organic photovoltaic cells. Our study aims at methodically investigating the loading of a polymer with PCBM. For our investigation a specially synthesized mono-disperse regio-regular poly-(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) is used. The relative crystallinity of P3HT has been directly related to the nucleation density for PCBM aggregation. A combination of small, wide and grazing incident angle X-ray scattering techniques is used to track PCBM within the polycrystalline superstructure of P3HT. We have found the solubility limit of PCBM in amorphous P3HT domains, whereas, above this limit, it segregates out. Our results show that the crystallization of P3HT with crystal sizes in the range of 10 nm sets one of the length scales in the phase separation process.