The effect of mixing donor and acceptor molecules on the growth modes in thin organic films for solar cells

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are based on organic constituents, such as polymers or small organic molecules, and offer the possibility of low-cost and environmentally friendly electronics on thin and flexible substrates. However, commonly applied organic thin films grow in a highly complex fashion across several length scales, where the interaction with the templating layer can greatly alter the molecular organisation of the subsequently deposited thin films, and thus device performance. In order to progress the field of OPVs to widespread commercial relevance, an understanding of the key structure-property relationships must be developed. For this reason, we propose to undertake a comprehensive microstructural study of thin film blends on several device relevant templating layers, linking these to device measurements to elucidate performance limiting parameters, and thus advance the OPV field towards commercialisation.