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PTB7-Th, PCE10, PBDTTT-EFT

CAS Number 1469791-66-9

Luminosyn™ Polymers, Materials, OPV Polymers, Semiconducting Polymers


Product Code M0261A5-100mg
Price £400 ex. VAT

PTB7-Th, high purity new generation OPV donor polymer

Increased efficiency and more stable than PTB7


PTB7-Th (also known as PCE10 or PBDTTT-EFT), CAS number 1469791-66-9, is one of the new generation of OPV donor polymers that could deliver on the heralded 10/10 target of 10% efficiency and 10 years lifetime. This material has already shown impressive potential with in excess of 9% efficiency reported in the literature and over 7% produced when using large area deposition processes in air with a standard architecture [1,2]. In our own labs we have achieved efficiencies of over 9%.

The advantages of PCE10 are that not only does the material lower HOMO/LUMO levels and increase the efficiencies compared to PTB7, but more significantly it is also far more stable. Early indications are that it can be handled under ambient conditions without issues, suggesting that we can look forward to measuring the long term lifetime of the devices.

Ossila's PTB7-Th was used in a high impact paper (IF 18.81)

PTB7-Th from Ossila was used in the high-impact paper (IF 18.81), Copper(I) Thiocyanate (CuSCN) Hole-Transport Layers Processed from Aqueous Precursor Solutions and Their Application in Thin-Film Transistors and Highly Efficient Organic and Organometal Halide Perovskite Solar Cells, N Wijeyasinghe et al., Adv. Funct. Mater., 1701818 (2017); DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201701818.

Luminosyn™ PTB7-Th

Luminosyn™ PTB7-Th is now available.

High molecular weight and high purity

PTB7-Th is purified by Soxhlet extraction with methanol, hexane and chlorobenzene under an argon atmosphere

Batch-specific GPC data

Have confidence in what you are ordering; batch-specific GPC data for your thesis or publications

Large quantity orders

Plan your experiments with confidence with polymers from the same batch

General Information

CAS Number 1469791-66-9
Full Name Poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl]
Chemical Formula (C49H57FO2S6)n
HOMO / LUMO HOMO = 5.24 eV, LUMO = 3.66 eV [1]
Optical λmax = 720 nm; λedge = 785 nm; Eg (optical) = 1.58 eV
Recommended solvents Chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene
Synonyms PCE10, PBDTT-FTTE, PTB7-Th
Classification / Family Thienothiophene, Benzodithiophene, Heterocyclic five-membered ring, Organic semiconducting materials, Low band gap polymers, Organic Photovoltaics, Polymer Solar Cells, All-PSCs, NF-PSCs

Chemical Structure

Chemical structure of 1469791-66-9, PCE10, PBDTTT-EFT, PTB7-Th
Chemical structure of PCE10 (PBDTTT-EFT), (C49H57FO2S6)n

Applications

PCE10 is one of the most exciting materials to have made it out of the labs in recent years and offers huge potential for more in depth research. We'll be working hard over the next few months to maximise efficiencies by optimising the device architecture, and we will provide further results as we do so. In the mean time, our current fabrication routine is below, and should you have any further questions or queries please contact us.

Usage Details

This fabrication routine was published in 2015 and used a now discontinued batch of PCE10, Batch No. M261, that had a broad range molecular weight definition of Mw > 40,000.
PCE10 JV curve in light and dark
PCE10 JV Curve: Voc = 0.785 V; Jsc = 16.81 mA/cm2; FF = 68.57%; PCE = 9.04%

Reference Devices

Reference devices were made on batch M261 to assess the effect of PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM active layer thickness on OPV efficiency with the below structure. These were fabricated under inert atmosphere before encapsulation and measurement under ambient conditions.

Glass / ITO (100 nm) / PEDOT:PSS (30 nm) / PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM (1:1.5) / Ca (5 nm) / Al (100 nm)

For generic details please see the fabrication guide and video. For specific details please see the below condensed fabrication report which details the optical modelling and optimisation of the multilayer stack.

The PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM solution was made in chlorobenzene (CB) at 35 mg/ml before being diluted with 3% diiodooctane (DIO) to promote the correct morphology.

Active layer thicknesses were achieved from spincasting the film at spin speeds of 2000, 2700, 3900 and 6000 rpm for 30s. Additionally, a methanol wash was performed for all devices to help remove the DIO additive. For each of these spin speeds a total of 2 substrates (3 in the case of 2700 rpm) was produced, each with 8 pixels and the data presented below represents a non-subjective (no human intervention) analysis of the best 75% of pixels by PCE (18 pixels for 2700 rpm condition, 12 pixels for each other).

Overall, the average efficiency of 8.30% PCE (9.01% maximum) was found from a 2700 rpm spin speed.

PCE10 device metrics
Figure 1: PCE, Jsc, Voc and FF for different spin speeds. Data shown is averaged with standard deviation of the best 75% of pixels. Standard deviation for Voc was ±0.01 V for each criterion. The JV curve (dark and under illumination) for the best performing device is shown below.

Note on effect of epoxy: Due to the very high solubility of the PBDTTT-EFT it was noted during fabrication that the film changed colour when in contact with the encapsulation epoxy in liquid form for extended periods indicating that there was some miscibility. Inspection of the active areas underneath the top cathode indicated that the epoxy had not seeped into the active area before curing and device metrics indicate that this did not appear to affect performance. However, we would recommend minimising contact time between the epoxy and PBDTTT-EFT films before UV curing.

Condensed Fabrication Routine

Substrates and cleaning

All solvent cleaning was carried out using Ossila Annealing and Cleaning Beakers with Ossila's complimentary Substrate Rack for Cleaning and Storage.

  • Edgeless 8 pixel substrates (S211)
  • 5 minutes sonication in hot 10% NaOH solution
  • 1x boiling deionised water (DI) dump rinse, 1x cold dump rinse
  • 5 minutes sonication in hot 1% Hellmanex III
  • 2x boiling DI rinses, DI
  • 5 minutes sonication in warm isopropyl alcohol (IPA)
  • 1x boiling DI dump rinse, 1x cold dump rinse
  • N2 blow dry
  • Substrates held on a hotplate at 120°C before spin-coating the hole transport layer (no further cleaning or surface treatment required)

PEDOT:PSS

  • AI 4083 PEDOT:PSS filtered through a 0.45 µm PES filter (C2009S1)
  • Spin on heated substrates at 6000 rpm for 30s
  • Bake at 120°C after spincast
  • Cathode strip wipe with cleanroom swab dipped in DI, replaced back on hotplate until transfer to glove box
  • Additional bake in the glove box for 30 mins to remove residual moisture

Active Layer Solution

  • Fresh stock solutions of PBDTTT-EFT (M261) made at a concentration 14 mg/ml in anhydrous CB and dissolved at 70°C for 1.5 hours
  • Mixed with dry Ossila 95% C70 PCBM at a blend ratio of 1:1.5 to make an overall solution concentration of 35 mg/ml
  • Mixed in 3% DIO and then heated the solution at 70°C with a stirbar for 2 hours
  • Cooled prior to spincasting

Active layer test films

  • Test film spun at 2000 rpm for 30s using unfiltered solution with a methanol wash before measuring with a Dektak surface profiler
  • Reference film displayed a thickness of 140 nm

Active layers

  • Devices spun using 30 µl dynamic dispense for 30s
  • Methanol wash was then immediately performed as a secondary spin step, 20 µl at 4000 rpm for 30 seconds
  • Cathode wiped with CB

Evaporation

Left in vacuum chamber overnight and evaporated with the below parameters.

  • 5 nm Ca at 0.2 Å/s
  • 100 nm Al at 1.5 Å/s
  • Deposition pressure

Encapsulation

Measurements

  • JV sweeps taken with Keithley 237 sourcemeter
  • Illumination by Newport Oriel 9225-1000 solar simulator with 100 mW/cm2 AM1.5 output
  • NREL certified silicon reference cell used to calibrate
  • Lamp current: 7.8 A
  • Solar output at start of testing: 1.00 suns at 23 °C
  • Solar output at end of testing: 1.00 suns at 25 °C
  • Air cooled substrates
  • Room temperature at start of testing : 25 °C
  • Room temperature at end of testing: 25 °C
  • No aperture mask, pixel size: 0.4 mm2

MSDS Documentation

PTB7-Th MSDSPTB7-Th MSDS sheet

Pricing 

Batch Quantity Price
M0261A 100 mg £400
M0261A 250 mg £800
M0261A 500 mg £1300
M0261A 1 g £2400

Batch details

Batch number MW Mn PDI Stock info
M263 47,043 23,781 1.98 Discontinued
M264 57,467 27,395 2.10 Discontinued
M0261A1 56,484 22,733 2.48 Discontinued
M0261A3 57,183 29,285 1.95 Discontinued
M0261A4 125,205 47,538 2.63 Discontinued
M0261A5 133,198 61,416 2.17 In Stock

References

  1. Side Chain Selection for Designing Highly Efficient Photovoltaic Polymers with 2D-Conjugated Structure, S. Zhang et al., Macromolecules, 47, 4653-4659 (2014)
  2. Highly Efficient 2D-Conjugated Benzodithiophene-Based Photovoltaic Polymer with Linear Alkylthio Side Chain, L. Ye et al., Chemistry of Materials., 26, 3603-3605 (2014)
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