Engineering topics
Black, C T
Publications and source records attributed to Black, C T.
Nanostructured Electrodes For Organic Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Model Study Using Carbon Nanotube Dispersed Polythiophene-fullerene Blend Devices
We test the feasibility of using nanostructured electrodes in organic bulk heterojunction solar cells to improve their photovoltaic performance by enhancing their charge collection efficiency and thereby increasing the optimal active blend layer thickness. As a model system, small concentrations of single wall carbon nanotubes are added to blends of poly(3-hexylthiophene): [6,6]-phenyl-C{sub 61}-butyric acid methyl ester in order to create networks of efficient hole conduction pathways in the device active layer without affecting the light absorption. The nanotube addition leads to a 22% increase in the optimal blend layer thickness from 90 nm to 110 nm, enhancing the short circuit current density and photovoltaic device efficiency by as much as {approx}10%. The associated incident-photon-to-current conversion efficiency for the given thickness also increases by {approx}10% uniformly across the device optical absorption spectrum, corroborating the enhanced charge carrier collection by nanostructured electrodes.
Nanoimprint-Induced Molecular Orientation in Semiconducting Polymer Nanostructures
The morphology and orientation of thin films of the polymer poly-3(hexylthiophene) - important parameters influencing electronic and photovoltaic device performance - have been significantly altered through nanoimprinting with 100 nm spaced grooves. Grazing-incidence small-angle X-ray scattering studies demonstrate the excellent fidelity of the pattern transfer, while wide-angle scattering convincingly shows an imprinting-induced {pi}-{pi} reorientation and polymer backbone alignment along the imprinted grooves. Surprisingly, temperature-dependent scattering measurements indicate that the imprinted induced orientation and alignment remain intact even at temperatures where the imprinted topographical features nearly vanish.