Characterization of Interfacial Structure in Polymer-Fullerene Bulk Heterojunctions via <SUP>13</SUP>C {<SUP>2</SUP>H} Rotational Echo Double Resonance NMR

Nieuwendaal, R. C.; DeLongchamp, D. M.; Richter, L. J.; Snyder, C. R.; Jones, R. L.; Engmann, S.; Herzing, A.; Heeney, M.; Fei, Z.; Sieval, A. B.; Hummelen, J. C.

PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS

2018

We introduce a new application of solid state NMR measurements towards characterizing the donor-acceptor interfaces within bulk heterojunction (BHJ) films. Rotational echo double resonance (REDOR) is used to measure dipolar couplings between 13C nuclei on the acceptor phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) fullerene cage, which is ≈18% isotopically enriched with 13C, and beta hydrogens on the donor poly(3-hexyl thiophene) (P3HT) main chain, which are >95% isotopically enriched with 2H. The 13C−2H dipolar couplings are used for constraining possible models of molecular packing in the amorphous mixed phase of a P3HT/PCBM BHJ. The films studied are highly mixed (>80%) and have a maximum length scale of composition nonuniformity of ≈6 nm in the mixed phase, as demonstrated by 1H spin diffusion NMR and supported by TEM. The REDOR results show that despite the lack of phase separation at length scales greater than ≈6 nm, neat P3HT and PCBM clusters exist on ≈3 nm size scales, and, for the average PCBM molecule, the number of nearest neighbors P3HTs is two.