CONJUGATED POLYMERS FOR PHOTOVOLTAICS: FROM SOLUTION TO SOLID-STATE NMR

Conjugated polymers are widely studied for applications in organic electronics.[1] The structural scenery is varied and the properties of polymers and copolymers can change heavily with the structure. The characterization of organic polymers used in organic electronics, and in particular in polymer solar cells (PSCs), is strongly multidisciplinary. It requires expertise within different branches of chemistry and at the border among chemistry, physics and engineering.
Here, the contribution of solution NMR to the study of self-aggregation properties of thiophene based conjugated polymers will be presented. NMR findings on polymers in solution appear to be correlated to morphological properties and solvatochromism. Since one of the most actively investigated application of conjugated polymers is as donors in bulk hetero junction PSCs, also some results obtained with solid-state NMR on polymer/fullerene blends will be reported.