Ink‐Jet Printing of Electron Donor/Acceptor Blends: Towards Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Abstract Summary: We illustrate the ink‐jet printing of a thin‐film library of donor/acceptor systems useful in bulk heterojunction solar cells and their characterization utilizing a UV‐vis/fluorescence plate reader and an optical profilometer. In addition, the morphology of the films has been examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The ink‐jet processing technology allows printing of arrays of different donor/acceptor compositions on one substrate as well as the subsequent fast optical screening of the electron transfer processes. The investigated films consist of blends of a poly(methyl methacrylate) polypyridyl ruthenium( II ) copolymer (RuPMMA) as electron donor material ( p ‐type) and C 60 fullerene (PC 60 BM) as well as heptyl viologen (C 7 ‐V) derivatives as electron acceptor materials ( n ‐type). Ink‐jet printing process and investigated donor/acceptor pair (RuPMMA‐PC 60 BM). magnified image Ink‐jet printing process and investigated donor/acceptor pair (RuPMMA‐PC 60 BM).