Plastic solar cell research has become an intense field of study considering these devices may be lightweight, flexible and reduce the cost of photovoltaic devices. The active layer of plastic solar cells are a combination of two organic components which blend to form an internal morphology. Due to the poor electrical transport properties of the organic components it is important to understand how the morphology forms in order to engineer these materials for increased efficiency. The focus of this thesis is a detailed study of the interfaces between the plastic solar cell layers and the morphology of the active layer.;The system studied in detail is a blend of P3HT and PCBM that acts as the primary absorber, which is the electron donor, and the electron acceptor, respectively. The key morphological findings are, while thermal annealing increases the crystallinity parallel to the substrate, the morphology is largely unchanged following annealing. The deposition and mixing conditions of the bulk heterojunction from solution control the starting morphology. The spin coating speed, concentration, solvent type, and solution mixing time are all critical variables in the formation of the bulk heterojunction. In addition, including the terminals or inorganic layers in the analysis is critical because the inorganic surface properties influence the morphology.;Charge transfer in the device occurs at the material interfaces, and a highly resistive transparent conducting oxide layer limits device performance. It was discovered that the electron blocking layer between the transparent conducting oxide and the bulk heterojunction is compromised following annealing. The electron acceptor material can diffuse into this layer, a location which does not benefit device performance. Additionally, the back contact deposition is important since the organic material can be damaged by the thermal evaporation of Aluminum, typically used for plastic solar cells. Depositing a thin thermal and momentum blocking layer of lithium fluoride prevents damage which ultimately leads to higher efficiencies.;Finally, new materials have been synthesized with better electronic properties and stability. Characterization of the polymer properties and how they assemble is important for high device performance. One new promising polymer, Polybenzo[1,2-b:4,5- b']dithiophene-4,7-dithien-2-yl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (PBnDT-DTBT), was characterized with PCBM and it was found that this polymer assembles similarly to previously studied polymers. The efficiency gained with this new polymer is obtained from an improvement in the materials electronic properties since the morphology closely resembles the P3HT:PCBM system.
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