Organic solar cells (OSCs) are a new type of photovoltaic technology for converting solar energy into electrical energy. They have excellent characteristics such as wide material sources, light weight, simple preparation process, and flexibility. Polymer/fullerene solar cells using conjugated polymers as electron donors and fullerene and its derivatives as electron acceptors are currently important research topics. Through molecular design strategies, the basic properties of polymers and fullerenes and their derivatives are optimized. These properties include the absorption spectrum, molecular energy level and mobility of the two, and the degree of crystallinity. Among them, the crystallinity of the active layer material is also closely related to the energy conversion efficiency of the battery. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) can directly measure the melting enthalpy of the active layer material and infer the level of crystallinity of the material. This allows the user to estimate energy conversion efficiency and therefore infer the best ratio of electron donor and electron donor in the active material.
This application note discusses how PerkinElmer DSC 4000 differential scanning calorimeter is used to test the heat flow curve of active layer materials in an organic solar cell, and the calculation of enthalpy of melting based on the melting peak to determine the molecular alignment and compatibility of the material.