Factors Governing Intercalation of Fullerenes and Other Small Molecules Between the Side Chains of Semiconducting Polymers Used in Solar Cells

While recent reports have established significant miscibility in polymer:fullerene blends used in organic solar cells, little is actually known about why polymers and fullerenes mix and how their mixing can be controlled. Here, X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and molecular simulations are used to study mixing in a variety of polymer:molecule blends by systematically varying the polymer and small-molecule properties. It is found that a variety of polymer:fullerene blends mix by forming bimolecular crystals provided there is sufficient space between the polymer side chains to accommodate a fullerene. Polymer:tetrafluoro-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ) bimolecular crystals were also observed, although bimolecular crystals did not form in the other studied polymer:non-fullerene blends, including those with both conjugated and non-conjugated small molecules. DSC and molecular simulations demonstrate that strong polymerfullerene interactions can exist, and the calculations point to van der Waals interactions as a significant driving force for molecular mixing.