• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.432.2-432.2
• /
• 2016

A new A-D-A type (Acceptor-Donor-Acceptor) conjugated based on pyridine-borane complex (Donor), non-boron fluorine (Donor) and 2,5-bis(alkyl)-3,6-di(thiophen-2-yl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4(2H,5H)-dione (DPP) (Acceptor) were designed and synthesized via Pd-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction. The synthesized boron based complex exhibited high electron affinity, which indicates deep HOMO energy levels and good visible absorption led to their use as donors in BHJ (bulk heterojunction) solar cells. Inverted devices were fabricated, reaching open-circuit voltage as high as 0.91eV. To probe structure-property relationship and search for design principle, we have synthesized pyridine-boron based electron donating small molecules. In this study, we report a new synthetic approach, molecular structure, charge carrier mobility and morphology of blended film and their correlation with the photovoltaic J-V characteristics in details.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.26 no.3
• /
• pp.252-256
• /
• 2013

We introduced sensitizing dyes into the bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic (PV) layer of polymer solar cells (PSCs). The sensitizing dyes doped were Bis(tetra butyl ammonium) cis-dithio cyanato bis(2,2'-bipyridine-4-carboxylicacid-4'-carboxylate) ruthenium (II) (N719 dye) and the BHJ PV layer used was made of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and phenyl $C_{61}$-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM). It was found that the N719 dyes increase the photovoltaic performance, i.e., increasing open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density with improved fill factor. For the P3HT:PCBM PV cells doped with the N719 dyes (0.24 wt%), an increase in power conversion efficiency of 4.0% was achieved, compared to that of the control cells (3.6%) without the N719 dyes.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
• /
• v.33 no.6
• /
• pp.236-241
• /
• 2023

Solar cells based on p-conjugated donor-acceptor (D-A) organic molecular systems are a promising alternative to conventional electrical energy generation. D-A molecular systems, which have a triphenylamine (TPA) moiety linked with a benzothiadiazole (BTD) moiety, open the potential development of new small molecule donors for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. Here, a series of donor-acceptor-π-acceptor (D-A-π-A) small molecule donors (SMD) derived from triphenylamine (TPA) donor and benzothiadiazole (BTD) acceptor building blocks, were designed for BHJ organic solar cells. The small molecule donors SMD1-4 were studied using density functional theory (DFT) and time dependent-DFT (TDDFT) methods, to understand the effect of cyano and fluorine group functionalization on their properties. The effect of structure alteration by cyano and fluorine group functionalization on the optoelectronic properties, the calculated highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs) and the HOMO-LUMO gaps were theoretically explored. The V_oc (open-circuit photovoltage) and fill factor (FF) for SMD1-4 were obtained with a PC₇₁BM acceptor, which showed that these organic small molecules are potential small molecule donors for organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.

• Earthquakes and Structures
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.363-382
• /
• 2024

In India's north-eastern region, low-strength autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC) blocks are widely used for constructing masonry structures, making them susceptible to lateral forces due to their low tensile and shear strengths and brittleness nature. The absence of earthquake-resistant attributes further compromises their resilience during seismic events. An economically viable solution to enhance the structural integrity of these masonry structures involves integrating steel wire mesh within the masonry mortar joints. This study investigates the in-plane shear behaviour of AAC masonry by employing two approaches: incorporating steel wire mesh within the masonry bed joint "BJ" and the masonry bed and head joint "BHJ". These approaches aim to augment strength and ductility, potentially serving as earthquake-resistant attributes in masonry structures. Three distinct variations of steel wire mesh and three reinforcing arrangements, i.e. (-), (L) and (Z) arrangement were employed to reinforce the two approaches. The test result reveals a significant enhancement in structural performance upon inclusion of steel wire mesh in both reinforcing approaches, with the "BHJ" approach outperforming the "BJ" approach and the unreinforced masonry, along with increase in capacity as the wire mesh size increases. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the reinforcing arrangement is ranked with the (Z) arrangement showing the largest performance, followed by the (L) and (-) arrangement.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
• /
• 2011.05a
• /
• pp.11.2-11.2
• /
• 2011

Polymer based organic photovoltaics have attracted a great deal of attention due to the potential cost-effectiveness of light-weight and flexible solar cells. However, most BHJ polymer solar cells are not thermally stable as subsequent exposure to heat drives further development of the morphology towards a state of macrophase separation in the micrometer scale. Here we would like to show three different approaches for developing new electroactive polymers to improve the thermal stability of the BHJ solar cells, which is a critical problem for the commercialization of these solar cells. For one of the examples, we report a new series of functionalized polythiophene (PT-x) copolymers for use in solution processed organic photovoltaics (OPVs). PT-x copolymers were synthesized from two different monomers, where the ratio of the monomers was carefully controlled to achieve a UV photo-crosslinkable layer while leaving the ${\pi}-{\pi}$ stacking feature of conjugated polymers unchanged. The crosslinking stabilizes PT-x/PCBM blend morphology preventing the macro phase separation between two components, which lead to OPVs with remarkably enhanced thermal stability. The drastic improvement in thermal stabilities is further characterized by microscopy as well as grazing incidence X-ray scattering (GIXS). In the second part of talk, we will discuss the use of block copolymers as active materials for WOLEDs in which phosphorescent emitter isolation can be achieved. We have exploited the use of triarylamine (TPA) oxadiazole (OXA) diblock copolymers (TPA-b-OXA), which have been used as host materials due to their high triplet energy and charge-transport properties enabling a balance of holes and electrons. Organization of phosphorescent domains in TPA-b-OXA block copolymers is demonstrated to yield dual emission for white electroluminescence. Our approach minimizes energy transfer between two colored species by site isolation through morphology control, allowing higher loading concentration of red emitters with improved device performance. Furthermore, by varying the molecular weight of TPA-b-OXA and the ratio of blue to red emitters, we have investigated the effect of domain spacing on the electroluminescence spectrum and device performance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2012.02a
• /
• pp.134-134
• /
• 2012

We investigated the interface of poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and C61-butyric acid methylester (PCBM) by using photoelectron spectroscopy (PES). These are the most widely used materials for bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells due to their high efficiency. Study of the BHJ interfaces is difficult because the organic films are typically prepared by spin coating in ambient conditions. This is incompatible with the interface electronic structure probes such as PES, which requires ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Study of interface requires gradual deposition of thin films that is also incompatible with the spin coating process. In this work, we used electrospray vacuum deposition (EVD) technique to deposit P3HT and PCBM in high vacuum conditions. EVD allows us to form polymer thin films onto ITO substrate in a step-wise manner directly from solutions and to use PES without exposing the sample to the ambient condition. Although the morphology of the EVD deposited P3HT films observed by optical and atomic force microscopes is quite different from that of the spin coated ones, the valence region spectra were similar. PCBM was deposited on the P3HT film in a similar manner and the energy level alignment between these two materials was studied. We discuss the relation between Voc of P3HT:PCBM solar cell and HOMO-LUMO energy offset obtained in this study.

• Journal of the Korean Vacuum Society
• /
• v.22 no.4
• /
• pp.211-217
• /
• 2013

Two types of organic thin film solar cell devices with bulk hetero-junction (BHJ) structure were fabricated on plastic substrates using conjugated polymers of $PCDTBT:PC_{71}BM$ and $PTB7:PC_{71}BM$ blended as active channel layer. Time-variant characteristics of the organic thin film solar cell devices were investigated: short circuit current density ($J_{SC}$); open circuit voltage ($V_{OC}$); ; fill factor (FF); power conversion efficiency (PCE, ŋ). All the performance parameters were degraded by progress of the measurement time, while $V_{OC}$ showed the most drastic decrease with time. Possible factors to cause the time-variant alteration of performance parameters were discussed to be clarified.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.7 no.3
• /
• pp.55-60
• /
• 2019

Polymer:nonfullerene solar cells with an inverted-type device structure were fabricated by employing the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) active layers, which are composed of poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1',3'-di-2-thienyl-5',7-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1',2'-c:4',5'-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione))] (PBDB-T) and 3,9-bis(6-methyl-2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2',3-d']-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b']dithiophene (IT-M). The BHJ layers were formed on a pre-patterned indium-tin oxide (ITO)-coated glass substrate by spin-coating using the blend solutions of PBDB-T and IT-M. The solar cell performances were investigated with respect to the cell position on the ITO-glass substrates. In addition, the short-term shelf lifetime of solar cells was tested by storing the PBDB-T:IT-M solar cells in a glovebox filled with inert gas. The results showed that the performance of solar cells was relatively higher for the cells close to the center of substrates, which was maintained even after storage for 24 h. In particular, the PCE of PBDB-T:IT-M solar cells was marginally decreased after storage for 24 h owing to the slightly reduced fill factor, even though the open circuit voltage was unchanged after 24 h.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
• /
• v.8 no.4
• /
• pp.107-113
• /
• 2020

Here we report the long-term stability of polymer:nonfullerene solar cells which were stored under dark and indoor light condition. The polymer:nonfullerene solar cells were fabricated using bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layers of poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl) thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1',3'-di-2-thienyl-5',7-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1',2'-c:4',5'-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione))] (PBDB-T) and 3,9-bis(6-methyl-2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2',3-d']-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b']dithiophene (IT-M). To investigate their long-term stability, the PBDB-T:IT-M solar cells were stored in an argon-filled glove box. One set of the fabricated solar cells was completely covered with an aluminum foil to prevent any effect of light, whereas another set was exposed to indoor light. The solar cells were subjected to a regular performance measurement for 40 weeks. Results revealed that the PBDB-T:IT-M solar cells underwent a gradual decay in performance irrespective of the storage condition. However, the PBDB-T:IT-M solar cells stored under indoor light condition exhibited relatively lower power conversion efficiency (PCE) than those stored under the dark. The inferior stability of the solar cells under indoor light was explained by the noticeably changed optical absorption spectra and dark spot generation, indicative of degradations in the BHJ layers.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.36 no.2
• /
• pp.143-150
• /
• 2023

Underwater wireless communication is a challenging issue for realizing the smart aqua-farm and various marine activities for exploring the ocean and environmental monitoring. In comparison to acoustic and radio frequency technologies, the visible light communication is the most promising method to transmit data with a higher speed in complex underwater environments. To send data at a speedier rate, high-performance photodetectors are essentially required to receive blue and/or cyan-blue light that are transmitted from the light sources in a light-fidelity (Li-Fi) system. Here, we fabricated high-performance organic phototransistors (OPTs) based on P-type donor polymer (PTO2) and N-type acceptor small molecule (IT-4F) blend semiconductors. Bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) PTO2:IT-4F photo-active layer has a broad absorption spectrum in the range of 450~550 nm wavelength. Solution-processed OPTs showed a high photo-responsivity >1,000 mA/W, a large photo-sensitivity >10³, a fast response time, and reproducible light-On/Off switching characteristics even under a weak incident light. BHJ organic semiconductors absorbed photons and generated excitons, and efficiently dissociated to electron and hole carriers at the donor-acceptor interface. Printed and flexible OPTs can be widely used as Li-Fi receivers and image sensors for underwater communication and underwater internet of things (UIoTs).