The influence of side-chain monomer design on solar cell stability

What is it about?

In this paper we systematically investigate a persistent question in the organic photovoltaics community – “what is the impact of polymer side-chains on device stability”?

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Why is it important?

We identify that device degradation occurs by initial PCBM dimerization (fast) followed by PCBM migration/crystallization (slow) and that these processes are moderated by the nature of the polymer side-chains which in turn impacts the polymer/PCBM miscibility and PCBM diffusion rates through the active layer. We hope that our results will encourage the community to consider the importance of side-chain selection on device stability rather than solely looking at initial performances.