An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films
Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the production of high value and high performance components with applications from aerospace to biomedical fields. We report here on the fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene): phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) thin films through the electr...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43113-x |
| _version_ | 1797576785357963264 |
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| author | Zulfikre Esa Malik Muhammad Nauman Lei Jin Muhammad Usman Khalid Juliana Hj Zaini Asif Iqbal Kamran Ali Brahim Aïssa Federico Rosei |
| author_facet | Zulfikre Esa Malik Muhammad Nauman Lei Jin Muhammad Usman Khalid Juliana Hj Zaini Asif Iqbal Kamran Ali Brahim Aïssa Federico Rosei |
| author_sort | Zulfikre Esa |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the production of high value and high performance components with applications from aerospace to biomedical fields. We report here on the fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene): phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) thin films through the electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) process and its integration as absorber layer for organic solar cells. Prior to the film fabrication, the optimization of the process was carried out by developing the operating envelope for the P3HT:PCBM ink to determine the optimal flow rate and the appropriate applied voltage to achieve a stable-cone deposition mode. The EHDA printed thin-film’s topography, morphology and optical properties were systematically analyzed. The root-mean-square roughness was found to vary significantly with the annealing temperature and the flow rate and ranged from 1.938 to 3.345 nm. The estimated film mass and thickness were found between 3.235 and 23.471 mg and 597.5 nm to 1.60 µm, respectively. The films exhibited a broad visible absorption spectrum ranging from ~ 340 to ~ 600 nm, with a maximum peak λmax located at ~ 500 nm. As the annealing temperature and the flow rate were increased, discernible alterations in the PCBM clusters were consequently observed in the blends of the film and the size of the PCBM clusters has decreased by 3% while the distance between them was highly reduced by as much as 82%. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:57:40Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-9cf91424d6c14465bd328e9397ae2b7c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T21:57:40Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-9cf91424d6c14465bd328e9397ae2b7c2023-11-19T13:03:59ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-09-0113111010.1038/s41598-023-43113-xAn additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin filmsZulfikre Esa0Malik Muhammad Nauman1Lei Jin2Muhammad Usman Khalid3Juliana Hj Zaini4Asif Iqbal5Kamran Ali6Brahim Aïssa7Federico Rosei8Faculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei DarussalamFaculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei DarussalamCentre for Energy, Materials and Telecommunications, Institut National de la Recherche ScientifiqueCollege of Computer and Information Sciences, Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic UniversityFaculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei DarussalamFaculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei DarussalamFaculty of Integrated Technologies, Universiti Brunei DarussalamCollege of Science and Engineering, Hamad Bin Khalifa UniversityCentre for Energy, Materials and Telecommunications, Institut National de la Recherche ScientifiqueAbstract Additive manufacturing (AM) enables the production of high value and high performance components with applications from aerospace to biomedical fields. We report here on the fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene): phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) thin films through the electrohydrodynamic atomization (EHDA) process and its integration as absorber layer for organic solar cells. Prior to the film fabrication, the optimization of the process was carried out by developing the operating envelope for the P3HT:PCBM ink to determine the optimal flow rate and the appropriate applied voltage to achieve a stable-cone deposition mode. The EHDA printed thin-film’s topography, morphology and optical properties were systematically analyzed. The root-mean-square roughness was found to vary significantly with the annealing temperature and the flow rate and ranged from 1.938 to 3.345 nm. The estimated film mass and thickness were found between 3.235 and 23.471 mg and 597.5 nm to 1.60 µm, respectively. The films exhibited a broad visible absorption spectrum ranging from ~ 340 to ~ 600 nm, with a maximum peak λmax located at ~ 500 nm. As the annealing temperature and the flow rate were increased, discernible alterations in the PCBM clusters were consequently observed in the blends of the film and the size of the PCBM clusters has decreased by 3% while the distance between them was highly reduced by as much as 82%.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43113-x |
| spellingShingle | Zulfikre Esa Malik Muhammad Nauman Lei Jin Muhammad Usman Khalid Juliana Hj Zaini Asif Iqbal Kamran Ali Brahim Aïssa Federico Rosei An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films Scientific Reports |
| title | An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films |
| title_full | An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films |
| title_fullStr | An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films |
| title_full_unstemmed | An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films |
| title_short | An additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate P3HT:PCBM thin films |
| title_sort | additive manufacturing approach based on electrohydrodynamic printing to fabricate p3ht pcbm thin films |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-43113-x |
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