En route to sustainability: blend nanoparticles for water-processable active layer of organic solar cells

Water-processable nanoparticles (WPNPs) of semiconducting polymers received considerable attention for optoelectronic and biological applications due to their simple preparation methods and tunable optical properties. Here a series of amphiphilic block copolymers was reported, PCPDTBT-b-P4VP, constituted by PCPDTBT, an electron donating low band-gap copolymer, as rigid segment and tailored segments of poly-4-vinylpyridine (P4VP) able to interact with acceptor materials, as fullerene derivatives. Taking advantage of the coil hydrophilic behaviour, we prepare WPNPs dispersion in aqueous medium by miniemulsion without surfactants. The obtained WPNPs were morphologically characterized and tested in sustainable NP-based OPVs with good efficiencies.