1
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Sabury S, Xu Z, Saiev S, Davies D, Österholm AM, Rinehart JM, Mirhosseini M, Tong B, Kim S, Correa-Baena JP, Coropceanu V, Jurchescu OD, Brédas JL, Diao Y, Reynolds JR. Non-covalent planarizing interactions yield highly ordered and thermotropic liquid crystalline conjugated polymers. MATERIALS HORIZONS 2024; 11:3352-3363. [PMID: 38686501 DOI: 10.1039/d3mh01974h] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/02/2024]
Abstract
Controlling the multi-level assembly and morphological properties of conjugated polymers through structural manipulation has contributed significantly to the advancement of organic electronics. In this work, a redox active conjugated polymer, TPT-TT, composed of alternating 1,4-(2-thienyl)-2,5-dialkoxyphenylene (TPT) and thienothiophene (TT) units is reported with non-covalent intramolecular S⋯O and S⋯H-C interactions that induce controlled main-chain planarity and solid-state order. As confirmed by density functional theory (DFT) calculations, these intramolecular interactions influence the main chain conformation, promoting backbone planarization, while still allowing dihedral rotations at higher kinetic energies (higher temperature), and give rise to temperature-dependent aggregation properties. Thermotropic liquid crystalline (LC) behavior is confirmed by cross-polarized optical microscopy (CPOM) and closely correlated with multiple thermal transitions observed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). This LC behavior allows us to develop and utilize a thermal annealing treatment that results in thin films with notable long-range order, as shown by grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXD). Specifically, we identified a first LC phase, ranging from 218 °C to 107 °C, as a nematic phase featuring preferential face-on π-π stacking and edge-on lamellar stacking exhibiting a large extent of disorder and broad orientation distribution. A second LC phase is observed from 107 °C to 48 °C, as a smectic A phase featuring sharp, highly ordered out-of-plane lamellar stacking features and sharp tilted backbone stacking peaks, while the structure of a third LC phase with a transition at 48 °C remains unclear, but resembles that of the solid state at ambient temperature. Furthermore, the significance of thermal annealing is evident in the ∼3-fold enhancement of the electrical conductivity of ferric tosylate-doped annealed films reaching 55 S cm-1. More importantly, thermally annealed TPT-TT films exhibit both a narrow distribution of charge-carrier mobilities (1.4 ± 0.1) × 10-2 cm2 V-1 s-1 along with a remarkable device yield of 100% in an organic field-effect transistor (OFET) configuration. This molecular design approach to obtain highly ordered conjugated polymers in the solid state affords a deeper understanding of how intramolecular interactions and repeat-unit symmetry impact liquid crystallinity, solution aggregation, solution to solid-state transformation, solid-state morphology, and ultimately device applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sina Sabury
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Tech Polymer Network, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
| | - Zhuang Xu
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Shamil Saiev
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0041, USA
| | - Daniel Davies
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - Anna M Österholm
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Tech Polymer Network, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
| | - Joshua M Rinehart
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Tech Polymer Network, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
| | - Motahhare Mirhosseini
- Department of Physics and Center for Functional Materials, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA
| | - Benedict Tong
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Tech Polymer Network, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
| | - Sanggyun Kim
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Juan-Pablo Correa-Baena
- School of Materials Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA
| | - Veaceslav Coropceanu
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0041, USA
| | - Oana D Jurchescu
- Department of Physics and Center for Functional Materials, Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, NC 27109, USA
| | - Jean-Luc Brédas
- Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0041, USA
| | - Ying Diao
- Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Department of Chemistry, Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, 600 S. Mathews Avenue, Urbana, Illinois 61801, USA
| | - John R Reynolds
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Tech Polymer Network, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA.
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2
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Aivali S, Yuan P, Panidi J, Georgiadou DG, Prodromakis T, Kallitsis JK, Keivanidis PE, Andreopoulou AK. Electron Transporting Perylene Diimide-Based Random Terpolymers with Variable Co-Monomer Feed Ratio: A Route to All-Polymer-Based Photodiodes. Macromolecules 2022. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.1c02159] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Stefania Aivali
- Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, University Campus, Rio- Patras GR26504, Greece
| | - Peisen Yuan
- Device Technology and Chemical Physics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou str., Limassol 3041, CYPRUS
| | - Julianna Panidi
- Centre for Electronics Frontiers, Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, University Road, Building 53 (Mountbatten), Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Dimitra G. Georgiadou
- Centre for Electronics Frontiers, Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, University Road, Building 53 (Mountbatten), Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Themis Prodromakis
- Centre for Electronics Frontiers, Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Highfield Campus, University Road, Building 53 (Mountbatten), Southampton SO17 1BJ, United Kingdom
| | - Joannis K. Kallitsis
- Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, University Campus, Rio- Patras GR26504, Greece
- Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas/Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (FORTH/ICE-HT), Platani Str., Patras GR26504, Greece
| | - Panagiotis E. Keivanidis
- Device Technology and Chemical Physics Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Cyprus University of Technology, 45 Kitiou Kyprianou str., Limassol 3041, CYPRUS
| | - Aikaterini K. Andreopoulou
- Department of Chemistry, University of Patras, University Campus, Rio- Patras GR26504, Greece
- Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas/Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences (FORTH/ICE-HT), Platani Str., Patras GR26504, Greece
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3
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Shavez M, Panda AN. Assessing Effects of Different π bridges on Properties of Random Benzodithiophene-thienothiophene Donor and Non-fullerene Acceptor Based Active Layer. J Phys Chem A 2021; 125:9852-9864. [PMID: 34738461 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpca.1c07378] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Abstract
This report presents the effect of insertion of four different π bridges, furan, thienothiophene, thiophene, and thiazole, into a random benzodithiophene (BDT)-fluorinated-thienothiophene (TT-F) based donor. Starting from a structure of synthesized donor (D)-acceptor (A) random copolymer with 3:1 ratio, we have designed four D-π-A systems with four different π bridges. Structural, optoelectronic, and charge transport/transfer properties of these donors and donor/NDI (NDI = poly[N,N'-bis(2-hexyldecyl)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5'-(2,2'-bithiophene)) blends are investigated using DFT and TD-DFT methodologies. Our results show that the thiazole based TzP1 oligomer has the deepest HOMO value resulting in the highest open circuit voltage among all systems. The maximum absorption wavelengths of π-linked systems are red-shifted compared to the parent molecule. Rates of charge transfer and charge recombination are the highest and smallest in case of the thiazole/NDI blend system. In addition, hole mobilities in thiophene, thienothiophene, and thiazole based systems are larger than in the parent system. The results indicate that the thiazole unit among the four π bridge units is the most suitable for active layer construction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohd Shavez
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India
| | - Aditya N Panda
- Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati 781039, India
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4
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Kolaczkowski MA, Garzón-Ruiz A, Patel A, Zhao Z, Guo Y, Navarro A, Liu Y. Design and Synthesis of Annulated Benzothiadiazoles via Dithiolate Formation for Ambipolar Organic Semiconductors. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:53328-53341. [PMID: 33170629 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c16056] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
Substituted 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTD) is a widely used electron acceptor unit for functional organic semiconductors. Difluorination or annulation on the 5,6-position of the benzene ring is among the most adapted chemical modifications to tune the electronic properties, though each sees its own limitations in regulating the frontier orbital levels. Herein, a hitherto unreported 5,6-annulated BTD acceptor, denoted as ssBTD, is designed and synthesized by incorporating an electron-withdrawing 2-(1,3-dithiol-2-ylidene)malononitrile moiety via aromatic nucleophilic substitution of the 5,6-difluoroBTD (ffBTD) precursor. Unlike the other reported BTD annulation strategies, this modification leads to the simultaneous decrease in both frontier orbital energies, a welcoming feature for photovoltaic applications. Incorporation of ssBTD into conjugated polymers results in materials boasting broad light absorption, dramatic solvatochromic and thermochromic responses (>100 nm shift and a band gap difference of ∼0.28 eV), and improved crystallinity in the solid state. Such physical properties are in accordance with the combined electron-withdrawing effect and significantly increased polarity associated with the ssBTD unit, as revealed by detailed theoretical studies. Furthermore, the thiolated ssBTD imbues the polymer with ambipolar charge transport property, in contrast to the ffBTD-based polymer, which transports holes only. While the low mobilities (10-4 to 10-5 cm2 V-1 s-1) could be further optimized, detailed studies validate that the thioannulated BTD is a versatile electron-accepting unit for the design of functional stimuli-responsive optoelectronic materials.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthew A Kolaczkowski
- The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Andrés Garzón-Ruiz
- Department of Physical Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cronista Francisco Ballesteros Gómez, Albacete 02071, Spain
| | - Akash Patel
- The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
| | - Zhiyuan Zhao
- Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
| | - Yunlong Guo
- Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, P. R. China
| | - Amparo Navarro
- Department of Physical and Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Experimental Sciences, Universidad de Jaén, Campus Las Lagunillas, Jaén 23071, Spain
| | - Yi Liu
- The Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, United States
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5
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Pelse I, Hernandez JL, Engmann S, Herzing AA, Richter LJ, Reynolds JR. Cosolvent Effects When Blade-Coating a Low-Solubility Conjugated Polymer for Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2020; 12:27416-27424. [PMID: 32484686 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c04108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The adoption of solution-processed active layers in the production of thin-film photovoltaics is hampered by the transition from research fabrication techniques to scalable processing. We report a detailed study of the role of processing in determining the morphology and performance of organic photovoltaic devices using a commercially available, low-solubility, high-molar mass diketopyrrolopyrrole-based polymer donor. Ambient blade coating of thick layers in an inverted architecture was performed to best model scalable processing. Device performance was strongly dependent on the introduction of either o-dichlorobenzene (DCB), 1,8-diiodooctane, or diphenyl ether cosolvent into the chloroform (CHCl3) solution, which were all shown to drastically improve the morphology. To understand the origin of these morphological changes as a result of the addition of the cosolvent, in situ studies with grazing-incidence X-ray scattering and optical reflection interferometry were performed. Use of any of the cosolvents decreases the domain size relative to the single solvent system and moved the drying mechanism away from what is likely liquid-liquid phase separation to solid-liquid phase separation driven by polymer aggregation. Comparing the CHCl3 + DCB cast films to the CHCl3-only cast films, we observed both the formation of small domains and an increase in crystallinity during the evaporation of DCB due to a high nucleation rate from supersaturation. This resulted in percolated bulk heterojunction networks that performed similarly well with a wide range of film thicknesses from 180 to 440 nm, making this system amenable to continuous roll-to-roll processing methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ian Pelse
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Jeff L Hernandez
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
| | - Sebastian Engmann
- Nanoscale Device Characterization Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Andrew A Herzing
- Materials Measurement Science Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - Lee J Richter
- Materials Science and Engineering Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, United States
| | - John R Reynolds
- School of Chemistry and Biochemistry, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, United States
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6
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Gao X, Wu Y, Tao Y, Huang W. Conjugated Random Terpolymer Donors towardsHigh‐EfficiencyPolymer Solar Cells. CHINESE J CHEM 2020. [DOI: 10.1002/cjoc.201900503] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Xuyu Gao
- Key Lab for Flexible Electronics and Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergistic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University 30 South Puzhu Road Nanjing Jiangsu 211816 China
| | - Yijing Wu
- Key Lab for Flexible Electronics and Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergistic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University 30 South Puzhu Road Nanjing Jiangsu 211816 China
| | - Youtian Tao
- Key Lab for Flexible Electronics and Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergistic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University 30 South Puzhu Road Nanjing Jiangsu 211816 China
| | - Wei Huang
- Key Lab for Flexible Electronics and Institute of Advanced Materials, Jiangsu National Synergistic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University 30 South Puzhu Road Nanjing Jiangsu 211816 China
- Key Laboratory for Organic Electronics and Information Displays and Institute of Advanced Materials, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications 9 Wenyuan Road Nanjing Jiangsu 210046 China
- Shaanxi Institute of Flexible Electronics (SIFE), Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) 127 West Youyi Road, Xi'an Shaanxi 710072 China
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7
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Heintges GL, Bolduc A, Meskers SCJ, Janssen RAJ. Relation between the Electronic Properties of Regioregular Donor-Acceptor Terpolymers and Their Binary Copolymers. THE JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY. C, NANOMATERIALS AND INTERFACES 2020; 124:3503-3516. [PMID: 32089763 PMCID: PMC7027170 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.9b11562] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2019] [Revised: 01/22/2020] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
By analyzing the optical band gap and energy levels of seven different regioregular terpolymers in which two different electron-rich donor moieties are alternating with a common electron-deficient acceptor unit along the backbone, we establish a direct correlation with the properties of the corresponding binary copolymers in which one donor and one acceptor are combined. For this study, we use diketopyrrolopyrrole as the common acceptor and different π-conjugated aromatic oligomers as donors. We find that the optical band gap and frontier orbital energies of the terpolymers are the arithmetic average of those of the parent copolymers with remarkable accuracy. The same relationship is also found for the open-circuit voltage of the bulk heterojunction solar cells made with the ter- and copolymers in combination with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester. Comparison of these findings with data in the literature suggests that this is a universal rule that can be used as a tool when designing new π-conjugated polymers. The experimental results are supported by a semiempirical quantum chemical model that accurately describes the energy levels of the terpolymers after parametrization on the energy levels of the copolymers and also provides a theoretical explanation for the observed arithmetic relations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gaël
H. L. Heintges
- Molecular
Materials and Nanosystems & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Institute
for Materials Research (IMO-IMOMEC), Design & Synthesis of Organic
Semiconductors (DSOS), Hasselt University, Agoralaan, 3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium
| | - Andréanne Bolduc
- Molecular
Materials and Nanosystems & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - Stefan C. J. Meskers
- Molecular
Materials and Nanosystems & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
| | - René A. J. Janssen
- Molecular
Materials and Nanosystems & Institute for Complex Molecular Systems, Eindhoven University of Technology, P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven, The Netherlands
- Dutch
Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, De Zaale 20, 5612
AJ Eindhoven, The Netherlands
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8
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Liu X, Chen T, Yu F, Shang Y, Meng X, Chen ZR. AIE-Active Random Conjugated Copolymers Synthesized by ADMET Polymerization as a Fluorescent Probe Specific for Palladium Detection. Macromolecules 2020. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.0c00042] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoqing Liu
- Shenzhen Grubbs Institute, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
| | - Taixin Chen
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
| | - Feng Yu
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
| | - Yuxuan Shang
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
| | - Xue Meng
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
| | - Zhong-Ren Chen
- Shenzhen Grubbs Institute, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
- Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518005, China
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9
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Qing L, Zhong A, Chen W, Cao Y, Chen J. Largely improved bulk-heterojunction morphology in organic solar cells based on a conjugated terpolymer donor via a ternary strategy. POLYMER 2020. [DOI: 10.1016/j.polymer.2019.122050] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/10/2023]
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