Electronic properties and molecular distribution of a small molecule donor:acceptor mixture employing a processing additive

• The use of diiodooctane resulted in improved device performance of devices.
• BHJ structures with diiodooctane were analyzed via X-ray photoelectron microscopy.
• The use of diiodooctane improved the nanoscale morphology of BHJ layers.

The influence of the processing additive 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) on the photovoltaic properties, energy levels, charge transport, morphology and molecular distributions of a small molecule bulk heterojunction (BHJ) system was investigated. The use of DIO during the active layer processing resulted in significantly improved device performance, concomitant with changes in the nano-scale morphology. X-ray photoelectron microscopy (XPM) measurements provide insight into the molecular distribution within the small molecule BHJ system using processing additives. This study provides information on the influence of volatile solvent additives and processing conditions on the morphology of small molecule BHJ systems, and may assist in the future selection of ideal processing additives in small molecule BHJs.

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