Morphological characterization of Poly(3-octylthiophene):Plasticizer:C60 Blends

Since the discovery of the very fast photo-induced charge transfer between conducting polymers (as donors, D) and buckminsterfullerene (C ) (as acceptors, A), interpenetrating DyA networks have been proposed to improve the collection of 60 free charges at the electrodes.The morphology of the DyA blend is of crucial importance and embedding the photoactive materials in a plasticing matrix was suggested as a method to overcome phase separation, and to favor homogeneity.In this contribution we report on a morphological characterization of three-component blends of the type poly(3-octylthiophene)y plasticizeryC , with different plasticizing materials.The morphological investigation was done with transmission electron 60 microscopy.The use of a conjugated thiophene-based plasticizer produces dispersed fullerene domains interpenetrated in the polymeric matrix.