TY - JOUR
T1 - Increasing the Strength, Hardness, and Survivability of Semiconducting Polymers by Crosslinking
AU - Chen, Alexander X.
AU - Hilgar, Jeremy D.
AU - Samoylov, Anton A.
AU - Pazhankave, Silpa S.
AU - Bunch, Jordan A.
AU - Choudhary, Kartik
AU - Esparza, Guillermo L.
AU - Lim, Allison
AU - Luo, Xuyi
AU - Chen, Hu
AU - Runser, Rory
AU - McCulloch, Iain
AU - Mei, Jianguo
AU - Hoover, Christian
AU - Printz, Adam D.
AU - Romero, Nathan A.
AU - Lipomi, Darren J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Materials Interfaces published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2023/1/26
Y1 - 2023/1/26
N2 - Crosslinking is a ubiquitous strategy in polymer engineering to increase the thermomechanical robustness of solid polymers but has been relatively unexplored in the context of π-conjugated (semiconducting) polymers. Notwithstanding, mechanical stability is key to many envisioned applications of organic electronic devices. For example, the wide-scale distribution of photovoltaic devices incorporating conjugated polymers may depend on integration with substrates subject to mechanical insult—for example, road surfaces, flooring tiles, and vehicle paint. Here, a four-armed azide-based crosslinker (“4Bx”) is used to modify the mechanical properties of a library of semiconducting polymers. Three polymers used in bulk heterojunction solar cells (donors J51 and PTB7-Th, and acceptor N2200) are selected for detailed investigation. In doing so, it is shown that low loadings of 4Bx can be used to increase the strength (up to 30%), toughness (up to 75%), hardness (up to 25%), and cohesion of crosslinked films. Likewise, crosslinked films show greater physical stability in comparison to non-crosslinked counterparts (20% vs 90% volume lost after sonication). Finally, the locked-in morphologies and increased mechanical robustness enable crosslinked solar cells to have greater survivability to four degradation tests: abrasion (using a sponge), direct exposure to chloroform, thermal aging, and accelerated degradation (heat, moisture, and oxygen).
AB - Crosslinking is a ubiquitous strategy in polymer engineering to increase the thermomechanical robustness of solid polymers but has been relatively unexplored in the context of π-conjugated (semiconducting) polymers. Notwithstanding, mechanical stability is key to many envisioned applications of organic electronic devices. For example, the wide-scale distribution of photovoltaic devices incorporating conjugated polymers may depend on integration with substrates subject to mechanical insult—for example, road surfaces, flooring tiles, and vehicle paint. Here, a four-armed azide-based crosslinker (“4Bx”) is used to modify the mechanical properties of a library of semiconducting polymers. Three polymers used in bulk heterojunction solar cells (donors J51 and PTB7-Th, and acceptor N2200) are selected for detailed investigation. In doing so, it is shown that low loadings of 4Bx can be used to increase the strength (up to 30%), toughness (up to 75%), hardness (up to 25%), and cohesion of crosslinked films. Likewise, crosslinked films show greater physical stability in comparison to non-crosslinked counterparts (20% vs 90% volume lost after sonication). Finally, the locked-in morphologies and increased mechanical robustness enable crosslinked solar cells to have greater survivability to four degradation tests: abrasion (using a sponge), direct exposure to chloroform, thermal aging, and accelerated degradation (heat, moisture, and oxygen).
KW - crosslinking
KW - mechanical properties
KW - photovoltaics
KW - polymer coatings
KW - semiconducting polymers
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U2 - 10.1002/admi.202202053
DO - 10.1002/admi.202202053
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85143395484
SN - 2196-7350
VL - 10
JO - Advanced Materials Interfaces
JF - Advanced Materials Interfaces
IS - 3
M1 - 2202053
ER -