Hybrid bulk heterojunction solar cells based on the cooperative interaction of liquid crystals within quantum dots...

In this article, the conjugated rod-rod polythiophene diblock copolymers comprising a regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) segment and a side-chain liquid-crystalline polythiophene segment bearing cyanobiphenyl mesogenic pendants (PTcbp), polythiophene-b-poly{3-[10-(4'-cyanobiphenyloxy)decyl]thiophene} (P3HT-b-PTcbp), were rationally designed and synthesized. It was observed that the diblock copolymers could self-assemble into high crystalline and oriented nanofibrils upon 1,2-dichlorobenzene solvent vapor annealing, originating from the crystallization of two segments and the orientation of cyanobiphenyl side-chain mesogens. Hybrid bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells were then fabricated using P3HT-b-PTcbp as electron donors and ZnO and CdS quantum dots (QDs) modified by 4'-hydroxy-[1,1'-biphenyl]-4-carbonitrile (cbp) liquid-crystalline ligands (cbp@ZnO and cbp@CdS) as electron acceptors. The interaction between the cbp ligands on the surface of ZnO and CdS QDs and cyanobiphenyl side-chain mesogens of diblock copolymers promoted the cooperative self-assembly and controllable well-dispersion of QDs in the polymer matrix and, as a consequence, yielded an intimately contacted polymer-QD nanocomposites. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the device based on P3HT-b-PTcbp/cbp@ZnO hybrids was improved by 2.6 times compared with that of P3HT/ZnO hybrids from 0.58 to 0.97. In addition, an overall PCE of a homologous device based on the P3HT-b-PTcbp/cbp@CdS hybrid active layer reached 2.3%. The research paved the way for the further development of high-efficiency hybrid BHJ solar cells by introducing block copolymer nanofibrils with favored crystalline domain orientations and liquid-crystalline organization properties.