Inorganic-Organic Hybrid Nanomaterials for Organic Solar Cells Applications

Dear Colleagues,

Organic semiconductors are widely used in organic electronics, including photovoltaic devices such as organic solar cells (OSCs), in which they act as components of active layers. In this respect, polymer–fullerene single-layer bulk-heterojunction-based OSCs are the most studied. In particular, electron donor organic semiconductor that are well researched and well described in the literature are polythiophenes (P3HT) and fullerene derivatives (PC60BM and PC70BM) as electron acceptors. Significantly less studied are OSCs based on non-fullerene acceptor bulk heterojunctions. They appeared in 2015 as an alternative to the commercialization of OSCs due to their better performance and thermal stability than those with a fullerene acceptor. The stability and efficiency of organic solar cells based on such heterojunctions, both polymer–fullerene and polymer–non-fullerene, depends on many factors, including the technological parameters of their preparation or thermal treatment. However, the most influencing is the morphology of the active layer and its electronic, optical, and thermal properties. The efficiency of fullerene-based OSC devices can be increased, for example, by using various P3HT and PCBM derivatives, as well as nanoparticle additives for active layers. The recently published results prove that adding metallic and oxide nanoparticles to OSCs’ active layer based on a P3HT:PCBM blend can improve their performance. This raises important questions about how the presence of nanoparticles in the OSCs’ active layer affects its internal microstructure and thermal stability, as well as its electronic, optical, and thermal properties.

Inorganic–organic hybrid materials are widely researched in various fields of science. Polymer–metal/metal oxide nanocomposites attract special attention due to their excellent optical and electrical properties.

The aim of this Special Issue, entitled Inorganic–Organic Hybrid Materials for Organic Solar Cell Applications, is to provide a variety of original articles concerning especially the physical properties of these materials, as well as their synthesis and applications as active layers in hybrid solar cells.

This Special Issue will be focused on the unique physical properties (optical and electrical), crystallization, phase transitions, thermal stability, and degradation of these materials, including the thermal stability of prepared OSC devices. It may also include the changes in and stability of internal and surface morphology.

• Polymer/metal and metal oxide nanoparticle composites.
• Optical properties.
• Electrical properties.
• Thermal properties (phase transitions).
• Hybrid solar cells.
• Thin films.
• Methods of physical property characterisation.
• Thermal stability of the active films.
• Stability of hybrid solar cells.

Scientific research in last years has shown that hybrid inorganic–organic materials are used in various areas of optoelectronics, including medicine, catalysis, mechanics, or the environment. They are used in devices such as luminescent diodes, solar cells, and lasers. In the case of polymer/nanoparticle hybrids, these kinds of materials provide a wide range of potential applications by changing material parameters, such as the concentration of nanoparticles and the way that they are placed inside a material. This particularly affects thermal transitions, such as the glass transition temperature—Tg—which is one of the basic parameters determining the thermal stability of these materials, and the cold crystallization temperature—Tcc. The addition of nanoparticles also affects other parameters, such as conductivity or the value of the energy gap—Eg. Recent research showed that, especially for these two parameters, adding metal nanoparticles or their oxides to a polymer matrix improves its properties significantly (lower Eg, better conductivity of the material).

We are soliciting the following:

• Review works.
• Regular research papers.
• Communications.

Dr. Barbara Hajduk
Dr. Pallavi Kumari
Dr. Pawel Jarka
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• semiconducting polymers
• conjugated polymers
• organic electronics
• organic solar cells
• OFETs
• polymer composites
• thin films