In-situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction on new polymer blends and multilayers for organic solar cells under uniaxial tensile stretching

We aim to investigate the structural properties of new blend active layers with polymer acceptors composing stretchable organic solar cells, as well as the impact of intermediate layers and electrodes on the mechanical behavior of the whole stacks. We will study binary and ternary polymer blend behaviour in multilayers and devices for outdoor applications, and we will focus on the relationship between the evolution of crystallinity, the mechanical and the electrical behavior of semi-conducting polymer thin layers, buffer layers (PEDOT:PSS, ZnO) and solar cell stacks during mechanical loading. The structural properties of the individual materials as well as their properties when incorporated in a device stack will be investigated by in situ grazing incidence X-ray diffraction under applied uniaxial tensile stretching. The structural behavior will be linked to the electronic properties of the layers and the entire cell, in order to figure out more stretch-resilient flexible devices