A photodegradation study of conjugated polymers for organic solar cells by absorption spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy

Abstract: The effect of light exposure in ambient air on thin films made from an electron acceptor polymer poly{[N,N'-bis(2-octyldodecyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5'-(2,2'-bithiophene)} (N2200), an electron donor polymer Poly[[2,3-bis(3-octyloxyphenyl)-5,8-quinoxalinediyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl] (TQ1) and their blends, has been studied using UV-vis spectroscopy and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). For solutions of TQ1, N2200 and blends, the linearity of the Beer-Lambert law for absorption spectroscopy has been verified. The measured UV-vis spectra show that TQ1 thin films are more sensitive to degradation by simulated sunlight than N2200 films. They also show that among the polymer blends, the N2200-rich blend with volume ratio 1:2 (TQ1:N2200) was less sensitive to degradation by simulated sunlight than blends of ratio 1:1 and 2:1. The AFM images showed a change in roughness between the undegraded and degraded films, where the TQ1, 1:1 and 1:2 films obtained lower roughness after 45 hours of degradation, and the N2200 and the 2:1 films obtained higher roughness.