CdSe/ZnS quantum dots as a booster in the active layer of distributed ternary organic photovoltaics

• Gabriela Lewińska,
• Piotr Jeleń,
• Zofia Kucia,
• Maciej Sitarz,
• Łukasz Walczak,
• Bartłomiej Szafraniak,
• Jerzy Sanetra and
• Konstanty W. Marszalek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2024, 15, 144–156, doi:10.3762/bjnano.15.14

• .15.14 Abstract Organic solar cells are a promising candidate for practical use because of their low material cost and simple production procedures. The challenge is selecting materials with the right properties and how they interrelate in the context of manufacturing the device. This paper presents

• studies on CdSe/ZnS nanodots as dopants in a polymer–fullerene matrix for application in organic solar cells. An assembly of poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) and 6,6-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester was used as the active reference layer. Absorption and luminescence spectra as well as the dispersion

• ; organic solar cells; quantum dots; Introduction Organic solar cells have been intensively developed in recent years as the third generation [1][2] of photovoltaic cells, next to dye-synthesized solar cells and perovskite cells. One of the relatively novel concepts of organic solar cells that yield higher

Self-assembly of C₆₀ on a ZnTPP/Fe(001)–p(1 × 1)O substrate: observation of a quasi-freestanding C₆₀ monolayer

• Guglielmo Albani,
• Michele Capra,
• Alessandro Lodesani,
• Alberto Calloni,
• Gianlorenzo Bussetti,
• Marco Finazzi,
• Franco Ciccacci,
• Alberto Brambilla,
• Lamberto Duò and
• Andrea Picone

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2022, 13, 857–864, doi:10.3762/bjnano.13.76

• surfaces for the investigation of their intrinsic properties, the minimization of the molecule–substrate interaction is desirable [20]. Furthermore, a weak molecule/metal electronic coupling is required in organic solar cells, because metallic states promote the relaxation of photo-excitations, lowering

Nanoporous and nonporous conjugated donor–acceptor polymer semiconductors for photocatalytic hydrogen production

• Zhao-Qi Sheng,
• Yu-Qin Xing,
• Yan Chen,
• Guang Zhang,
• Shi-Yong Liu and
• Long Chen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2021, 12, 607–623, doi:10.3762/bjnano.12.50

• moiety as a strong electron-withdrawing group, has been widely used to design organic semiconductors for diverse applications, such as organic solar cells [85], organic light-emitting diodes [86], and organic field-effect transistors [87]. Researchers have also incorporated cyano moieties into the design

• endowed a high AQT of 33.5% at 450 nm. Inspire by the architectures of organic solar cells, Cooper et al. selected a ITIC-based polymer as acceptor and a BT–carbazole-based one as donor to form polymer/polymer heterojunctions [95]. Due to the formation of abundant donor–acceptor interfaces, P78/P79

Current measurements in the intermittent-contact mode of atomic force microscopy using the Fourier method: a feasibility analysis

• Berkin Uluutku and
• Santiago D. Solares

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 453–465, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.37

• ; intermittent contact; Fourier analysis; tapping-mode AFM; Introduction Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM), a contact-mode technique, has been extensively utilized to investigate local electrical properties of nanoscale systems, such as organic solar cells [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], semiconductors [8][9

Implementation of data-cube pump–probe KPFM on organic solar cells

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Olivier Bardagot and
• Renaud Demadrille

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2020, 11, 323–337, doi:10.3762/bjnano.11.24

• presented. For a comprehensive introduction to this field, the reader may refer to [25]. Solution-processed organic solar cells [25] rely on the combination of electron donor (D) and acceptor (A) π-conjugated polymers and/or molecules that display a type-II energy offset between their highest occupied

Materials nanoarchitectonics at two-dimensional liquid interfaces

• Katsuhiko Ariga,
• Michio Matsumoto,
• Taizo Mori and
• Lok Kumar Shrestha

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1559–1587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.153

• nanosheets. At 90% carbon tetrachloride content, the average pore size became ca. 400 nm. These integrated two-dimensional structures would be nanoarchitectonics pieces for the fabrication of sensitive sensors, organic solar cells, and miniaturized organic superconductors. As a functional development of two

Pure and mixed ordered monolayers of tetracyano-2,6-naphthoquinodimethane and hexathiapentacene on the Ag(100) surface

• Robert Harbers,
• Timo Heepenstrick,
• Dmitrii F. Perepichka and
• Moritz Sokolowski

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1188–1199, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.118

• have a “great potential for use in next-generation textile and wearable electronics” [22]. HTPEN was investigated as a material for organic solar cells [23], for which purpose it was combined with lead(II) phthalocyanine and pentacene. These heterostructures exhibit a greater range of photosensitivity

Spin-coated planar Sb₂S₃ hybrid solar cells approaching 5% efficiency

• Pascal Kaienburg,
• Benjamin Klingebiel and
• Thomas Kirchartz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2114–2124, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.200

• Sb2Se3 [9][10] and outperforms bismuth-halides [11][12], SnS [13] and Bi2S3 [14][15][16]. However, the efficiency of Sb2S3 trails behind the more thoroughly studied material systems such as lead-based perovskites [17], organic solar cells [18][19] or PbS [20], thus further technological investigation is

• [(4,4′-bis(2-ethylhexyl)dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]silole)-2,6-diyl-alt-(2,5-bis(3-tetradecylthiophen-2-yl)thiazolo[5,4-d]thiazole)-2,5-diyl] KP115 depicted in Figure 4a allow high efficiencies at comparably thick layers when applied as absorbers in organic solar cells due to good transport properties [60

• MoOx forms a tunneling junction with the HTM is typical for organic solar cells in an n-i-p configuration. The cell area was 0.16 cm2. Layer and device characterization: The scanning electron microscope was a Zeiss (Leo) Gemini 1550 with Shottky field-emission cathode and an in-lens detector. The

Uniform cobalt nanoparticles embedded in hexagonal mesoporous nanoplates as a magnetically separable, recyclable adsorbent

• Can Zhao,
• Yuexiao Song,
• Tianyu Xiang,
• Wenxiu Qu,
• Shuo Lou,
• Xiaohong Yin and
• Feng Xin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 1770–1781, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.168

• Can Zhao Yuexiao Song Tianyu Xiang Wenxiu Qu Shuo Lou Xiaohong Yin Feng Xin School of Chemical Engineering and Technology, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300350, China Tianjin Key Laboratory of Organic Solar Cells and Photochemical Conversion, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin

Synthesis and characterization of two new TiO₂-containing benzothiazole-based imine composites for organic device applications

• Anna Różycka,
• Agnieszka Iwan,
• Krzysztof Artur Bogdanowicz,
• Michal Filapek,
• Natalia Górska,
• Damian Pociecha,
• Marek Malinowski,
• Patryk Fryń,
• Agnieszka Hreniak,
• Jakub Rysz,
• Paweł Dąbczyński and
• Monika Marzec

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 721–739, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.67

• conversion efficiency, lifetime) and luminescence parameters (e.g., quantum yield, lifetime) [7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. In recent years, the efficiency of bulk heterojunction organic solar cells has shown great improvement, from 2.5 to 13%. Such rapid progress brings us closer to actual commercialization

• heterocycles with electron-rich sulfur atoms and electron-withdrawing nitrogen atoms, exhibit good hole transporting properties with a low ionization potential, making them widely used electron-accepting materials in organic solar cells [15][16][17]. Nowadays, imines (azomethines), being condensation products

Hydrothermal synthesis of ZnO quantum dot/KNb₃O₈ nanosheet photocatalysts for reducing carbon dioxide to methanol

• Xiao Shao,
• Weiyue Xin and
• Xiaohong Yin

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 2264–2270, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.226

• Xiao Shao Weiyue Xin Xiaohong Yin School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China Tianjin Key Laboratory of Organic Solar Cells and Photochemical Conversion, Tianjin University of Technology, Tianjin 300384, China School of Chemical Engineering

Spin-chemistry concepts for spintronics scientists

• Konstantin L. Ivanov,
• Alexander Wagenpfahl,
• Carsten Deibel and
• Jörg Matysik

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 1427–1445, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.143

• solar cells (OSCs) [27][28]. We chose this to serve as example as it closely resembles the functional principles of systems found in spin chemistry. While OSCs have significant potential to become an inexpensive, large area and flexible photovoltaic technology at lower cost than conventional

• also allow spin detection by electrical means. Organic light emitting diodes also rely on spin manipulation of radical pairs created from injected charge carriers in order to increase their electroluminescence quantum efficiency. Another molecular system in which spins play a major role are organic

Energy-level alignment at interfaces between manganese phthalocyanine and C₆₀

• Daniel Waas,
• Florian Rückerl,
• Martin Knupfer and
• Bernd Büchner

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 927–932, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.94

• the interfaces, which is disadvantageous for applications in organic solar cells. Experimental We have carried out valence-band and core-level photoelectron spectroscopy studies of MnPc/C60 interfaces at room temperature. The preparation and the analysis chamber had a base pressure of about 3·10−10

Tandem polymer solar cells: simulation and optimization through a multiscale scheme

• Fanan Wei,
• Ligang Yao,
• Fei Lan,
• Guangyong Li and
• Lianqing Liu

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 123–133, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.13

• solar cells, also known as organic solar cells, have been attracting a wealth of attention due to their great potential as an alternative to the presently extensively used inorganic solar cells. However, the wide application of polymer solar cells is still highly restricted by their poor device

• ] and device structures tuning [3][4], were employed and explored. According to the reports by different research groups, exciting achievements have been witnessed in the past decade [5], among which tandem structures [6][7][8], created by stacking two single organic solar cells together, have been

• optimization of the internal material distribution and D/A weight ratio in the active layers of tandem organic solar cells. The latter, as demonstrated in this work, is critical for optimizing the performance of tandem polymer cells. In this paper, by taking all the impacting factors into consideration, we

Numerical investigation of depth profiling capabilities of helium and neon ions in ion microscopy

• Patrick Philipp,
• Lukasz Rzeznik and
• Tom Wirtz

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 1749–1760, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.168

• include mixed organic–inorganic systems for organic solar cells or LEDs. A study on such systems is forthcoming. Numerical methods Simulations on sputtering were carried out using the SD_TRIM_SP code [26] which is based on the simulation codes TRIM [36][37] and TRIDYN [38][39]. In addition to previous

High-resolution noncontact AFM and Kelvin probe force microscopy investigations of self-assembled photovoltaic donor–acceptor dyads

• Benjamin Grévin,
• Pierre-Olivier Schwartz,
• Laure Biniek,
• Martin Brinkmann,
• Nicolas Leclerc,
• Elena Zaborova and
• Stéphane Méry

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 799–808, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.71

• power conversion efficiency records of over 10% [1][2], solution-processed organic solar cells are regarded as a promising alternative to conventional silicon-based photovoltaic devices. Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells rely on blends of electron-donor (D) and electron-acceptor (A

Synthesis and applications of carbon nanomaterials for energy generation and storage

• Marco Notarianni,
• Jinzhang Liu,
• Kristy Vernon and
• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2016, 7, 149–196, doi:10.3762/bjnano.7.17

• ; nanomaterials; organic solar cells; plasmonic structures; supercapacitors; thin films; Review The energy future: challenges and opportunities The demand for energy in the 21st century is increasing due to the increase in the world’s population and rapid technological advancement [1]. Today, the worldwide

• [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM), which is largely used in organic solar cells. Hummelen et al. [35] were the first group to synthesize PC61BM by reacting diazoalcane with a C60 to reach the [5,6]fulleroid ester and subsequent isomerization to the [6,6]methanofullerene by refluxing

Nanostructures for sensors, electronics, energy and environment II

• Nunzio Motta

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1937–1938, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.197

• be exploited in room temperature gas sensing devices. The plasmonic effect, generated by the inclusion of metallic nanoparticles, can be used to overcome certain limitations of the carbon materials, especially in organic solar cells [5]. The optical properties of nanomaterials can also be exploited

Current–voltage characteristics of manganite–titanite perovskite junctions

• Benedikt Ifland,
• Patrick Peretzki,
• Birte Kressdorf,
• Philipp Saring,
• Andreas Kelling,
• Michael Seibt and
• Christian Jooss

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 1467–1484, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.152

• ideality factor, n. For an ideal diode this is n = 1. Evaluating the equivalent circuit yields the J–V characteristics in an implicit form, The analysis of data presented in this paper was performed using the one diode model. Organic solar cells: ideal diode equation for localized charge carriers, polarons

• The J–V characteristics of organic solar cells formed by junctions of conjugated polymers and fullerenes are commonly described in the framework of the Shockley model [43] in combination with either one or two diode electrical circuits [44]. Since the nature of the charge carriers is fundamentally

• activated hopping conductivity of small polarons. It should be noted, however, that this trend can be overlaid by temperature dependent changes the in morphology of the active layer [44]. The dominating loss mechanisms of organic solar cells are still under debate [48]. There seems to be some evidence that

Influence of size, shape and core–shell interface on surface plasmon resonance in Ag and Ag@MgO nanoparticle films deposited on Si/SiO_x

• Sergio D’Addato,
• Daniele Pinotti,
• Maria Chiara Spadaro,
• Guido Paolicelli,
• Vincenzo Grillo,
• Sergio Valeri,
• Luca Pasquali,
• Luca Bergamini and
• Stefano Corni

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2015, 6, 404–413, doi:10.3762/bjnano.6.40

• achieved in organic solar cells by incorporating Ag NPs on surface-modified transparent electrodes [8], and in LEDs by increasing their external quantum efficiency [6]. On the other hand, a number of studies on the optical properties of noble metal NPs on different surfaces have been performed [10][11

Optimization of solution-processed oligothiophene:fullerene based organic solar cells by using solvent additives

• Gisela L. Schulz,
• Marta Urdanpilleta,
• Roland Fitzner,
• Eduard Brier,
• Elena Mena-Osteritz,
• Egon Reinold and
• Peter Bäuerle

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 680–689, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.77

• distribution of donor and acceptor within the blend. The unique combination of solubility and thermal stability of DCV5T-Bu4 also allows for fabrication of organic solar cells by vacuum deposition. Thus, we were able to perform a rare comparison of the device characteristics of the solution-processed DCV5T-Bu4

• :PC61BM solar cell with its vacuum-processed DCV5T-Bu4:C60 counterpart. Interestingly in this case, the efficiencies of the small-molecule organic solar cells prepared by using solution techniques are approaching those fabricated by using vacuum technology. This result is significant as vacuum-processed

• PC71BM and PC61BM, respectively. This is in agreement with work done by Troshin et al., in which they correlated maximum solubilities of dozens of fullerene derivatives with maximum solar cell performances. In their study they proposed that novel donor polymers should be tested in organic solar cells

Energy-related nanomaterials

• Paul Ziemann and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 678–679, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.76

• concern fuel cells, Li-based batteries, and organic solar cells, to energy-related applications of nanographite and silicon nanotubes as well as the optimization of thermoelectric materials and electrochemistry-based microscopy. We would like to thank all colleagues for their valuable contributions and

Large-scale atomistic and quantum-mechanical simulations of a Nafion membrane: Morphology, proton solvation and charge transport

• Pavel V. Komarov,
• Pavel G. Khalatur and
• Alexei R. Khokhlov

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 567–587, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.65

• respect, the structure of hydrated Nafion closely resembles the bicontinuous cubic phase well-known for lyotropic mesophases. The bicontinuous morphology is an especially attractive one for many applications requiring a high interfacial area, such as fuel cell membranes, organic solar cells, etc. In

High-resolution electrical and chemical characterization of nm-scale organic and inorganic devices

• Pierre Eyben

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 318–319, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.35

• convertors based on metal nanoparticles with a dye to shift the wavelengths. Improving the lifetime of organic solar cells requires incorporating optically transparent inorganic barriers in between the polymer films to prevent moisture penetration. Unfortunately, these organic systems represent an even more

Micro- and nanoscale electrical characterization of large-area graphene transferred to functional substrates

• Gabriele Fisichella,
• Salvatore Di Franco,
• Patrick Fiorenza,
• Raffaella Lo Nigro,
• Fabrizio Roccaforte,
• Cristina Tudisco,
• Guido G. Condorelli,
• Nicolò Piluso,
• Noemi Spartà,
• Stella Lo Verso,
• Corrado Accardi,
• Cristina Tringali,
• Sebastiano Ravesi and
• Filippo Giannazzo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2013, 4, 234–242, doi:10.3762/bjnano.4.24

• flexible organic solar cells [9][10]. Currently, the most used method of graphene production for basic studies is the mechanical exfoliation of graphite [1], which was the first method to obtain graphene under ambient laboratory conditions. This method yields graphene fragments of excellent crystalline