Film stresses and electrode buckling in organic solar cells

Vitali Brand; Kemal Levi; Michae D. McGehee; Reinhold H. Dauskardt

doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003

Film stresses and electrode buckling in organic solar cells

Vitali Brand, Kemal Levi, Michae D. McGehee, Reinhold H. Dauskardt

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the film stresses that develop in the polymer films and metal electrodes of poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. A compressive biaxial stress of ∼-36 MPa was measured in PEDOT:PSS while a tensile stress of ∼6 MPa was measured in the BHJ layer. We then analyze the effect of electrode deposition rate on the film stresses in the Al electrode. Compressive stresses of ∼-100 to -145 MPa in the Al electrode lead to a buckling instability resulting in undulating electrode surface topography. The BHJ layer was found to have the lowest cohesion (∼1.5-1.8 J/m 2) among the layers of the solar cell and dependent on the Al electrode deposition rate. The cohesive failure path in the BHJ layer exhibited the same periodicity and orientation of the Al electrode buckling topography. We discuss the implications of the film stresses on damage processes during device fabrication and operation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	80-85
Number of pages	6
Journal	Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Volume	103
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003
State	Published - Aug 2012
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21
Acknowledgements: This work was partly supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the US Department of Energy, under Contract no. DE-FG02-07ER46391 and by the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under Award no. KUS-C1-015-21.
This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

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10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003

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title = "Film stresses and electrode buckling in organic solar cells",

abstract = "We investigate the film stresses that develop in the polymer films and metal electrodes of poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. A compressive biaxial stress of ∼-36 MPa was measured in PEDOT:PSS while a tensile stress of ∼6 MPa was measured in the BHJ layer. We then analyze the effect of electrode deposition rate on the film stresses in the Al electrode. Compressive stresses of ∼-100 to -145 MPa in the Al electrode lead to a buckling instability resulting in undulating electrode surface topography. The BHJ layer was found to have the lowest cohesion (∼1.5-1.8 J/m 2) among the layers of the solar cell and dependent on the Al electrode deposition rate. The cohesive failure path in the BHJ layer exhibited the same periodicity and orientation of the Al electrode buckling topography. We discuss the implications of the film stresses on damage processes during device fabrication and operation. {\textcopyright} 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.",

author = "Vitali Brand and Kemal Levi and McGehee, {Michae D.} and Dauskardt, {Reinhold H.}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21 Acknowledgements: This work was partly supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the US Department of Energy, under Contract no. DE-FG02-07ER46391 and by the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under Award no. KUS-C1-015-21. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.",

year = "2012",

month = aug,

doi = "10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003",

language = "English (US)",

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pages = "80--85",

journal = "Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells",

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AU - Brand, Vitali

AU - Levi, Kemal

AU - McGehee, Michae D.

AU - Dauskardt, Reinhold H.

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21 Acknowledgements: This work was partly supported by the Director, Office of Energy Research, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences Division of the US Department of Energy, under Contract no. DE-FG02-07ER46391 and by the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) under Award no. KUS-C1-015-21. This publication acknowledges KAUST support, but has no KAUST affiliated authors.

PY - 2012/8

Y1 - 2012/8

N2 - We investigate the film stresses that develop in the polymer films and metal electrodes of poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. A compressive biaxial stress of ∼-36 MPa was measured in PEDOT:PSS while a tensile stress of ∼6 MPa was measured in the BHJ layer. We then analyze the effect of electrode deposition rate on the film stresses in the Al electrode. Compressive stresses of ∼-100 to -145 MPa in the Al electrode lead to a buckling instability resulting in undulating electrode surface topography. The BHJ layer was found to have the lowest cohesion (∼1.5-1.8 J/m 2) among the layers of the solar cell and dependent on the Al electrode deposition rate. The cohesive failure path in the BHJ layer exhibited the same periodicity and orientation of the Al electrode buckling topography. We discuss the implications of the film stresses on damage processes during device fabrication and operation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

AB - We investigate the film stresses that develop in the polymer films and metal electrodes of poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells. A compressive biaxial stress of ∼-36 MPa was measured in PEDOT:PSS while a tensile stress of ∼6 MPa was measured in the BHJ layer. We then analyze the effect of electrode deposition rate on the film stresses in the Al electrode. Compressive stresses of ∼-100 to -145 MPa in the Al electrode lead to a buckling instability resulting in undulating electrode surface topography. The BHJ layer was found to have the lowest cohesion (∼1.5-1.8 J/m 2) among the layers of the solar cell and dependent on the Al electrode deposition rate. The cohesive failure path in the BHJ layer exhibited the same periodicity and orientation of the Al electrode buckling topography. We discuss the implications of the film stresses on damage processes during device fabrication and operation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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UR - https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0927024812001596

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U2 - 10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003

DO - 10.1016/j.solmat.2012.04.003

M3 - Article

SN - 0927-0248

VL - 103

SP - 80

EP - 85

JO - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

JF - Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells

ER -

Film stresses and electrode buckling in organic solar cells

Abstract

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