Composition for an active layer or electrode of photovoltaic cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9349962-B2
Application number	US-201214115509-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 26, 2012
Priority date	May 2, 2011
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

A composition including a graft copolymer, having: a linear trunk including at least one non-aromatic vinyl polymer or an unsaturated polyolefin; and at least two grafts attached to said trunk via a chemical bond, each graft having a conjugated polymer, characterized in that said composition further includes: fullerenes and a conjugated polymer; or carbon and/or graphene nanotubes. Also, a photovoltaic module incorporating such a composition, and to the use of said composition for the same purposes. Finally, methods for synthesizing the molecules forming all or part of the composition.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A composition comprising a grafted copolymer, the grafted copolymer consisting essentially of:
a linear trunk comprising at least one nonaromatic vinyl polymer or one unsaturated polyolefin, and
at least two grafts, attached to said trunk via a chemical bond, wherein one of the grafts consists essentially of a first conjugated polymer and one of the grafts consists essentially of a second conjugated polymer; and
wherein said composition additionally comprises:
1—fullerenes and a third conjugated polymer, or
2—at least one of carbon nanotubes and graphene.

2. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least two grafts have the same molar mass.

3. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second conjugated polymers consist essentially of poly(3-hexylthiophene).

4. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the grafted copolymer and the third conjugated polymer are of the same nature.

5. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the linear trunk consists essentially of a polydiene.

6. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the linear trunk consists essentially of an acrylic polymer or polyacrylate.

7. The composition as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the linear trunk consists essentially of a polyalkyl acrylate.

8. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the linear trunk has hydroxyl functional groups so as to confer amphiphilic properties on the trunk.

9. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the linear trunk consists essentially of poly(vinyl alcohol).

10. The composition as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the first and second conjugated polymers are selected from the group consisting of poly(phenylene vinylene)s, polythiophenes and polyfluorenes.

11. An organic photovoltaic cell of a photovoltaic module comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , when the composition comprises fullerenes and a conjugated polymer.

12. A photovoltaic module exhibiting at least one layer forming an encapsulant comprising a photovoltaic cell and a layer forming a back sheet, said photovoltaic cell comprising a composition as claimed in claim 1 .

13. An electrode comprising the composition as claimed in claim 1 , when the composition comprises carbon nanotubes and/or graphene.

14. A process for the synthesis of the conjugated polymer of the composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the conjugated polymer is ω-thiol-terminated, the process comprising the successive stages of:
treatment of an amount, A1, of ω-allyl-terminated P3HT in a container placed beforehand under an inert atmosphere;
addition of an amount, A2, of nonpolar aromatic solvent, the A1/A2 ratio being between 15 and 50;
addition of an amount, A3, of an alkanedithiol, A3 being less than A2;
addition of an amount, A4, of a radical generator of the peroxide or diazo type, A4 being less than A2;
maintenance of the mixture at a temperature between 0° C. and 200° C., depending on the radical-generating systems used;
addition of an optional amount, A5, of radical generator which can be similar or not to the radical generator of amount A4, A5 being between 0 and 10 A4;
optional maintenance, in the case where A5 is nonzero, of the mixture at a temperature of between 0° C. and 200° C., depending on the radical-generating systems used.

15. The process as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the process comprises a final stage of isolation of the product, followed by filtration/drying of the product.

16. A process for the synthesis of the grafted polymer of the composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the grafted copolymer is polyolefin-g-P3HT, the process comprising the successive stages of:
treatment of an amount, A1, of ω-thiol-terminated P3HT in a container placed under an inert atmosphere;
addition of an amount, A2, of nonpolar aromatic solvent, the A1/A2 ratio being between 5 and 30;
maintenance of the mixture at more than 25° C. for at least 30 minutes;
addition of an amount, A3, of unsaturated polyolefin, A3 being between A1 and A2;
addition of an amount, A4, of a radical generator of the peroxide or diazo type A4 being less than A2;
maintenance of the mixture at a temperature between 0° C. and 200° C., depending on the radical-generating systems used;
addition of an optional amount, A5, of radical generator which can be similar or not to the radical generator of amount A4, A5 being between 0 and 10 A4;
optional maintenance, in the case where A5 is nonzero, of the mixture at a temperature of between 0° C. and 200° C., depending on the radical-generating systems used.

17. A process for the synthesis of the grafted polymer of the composition as claimed in claim 1 in which the grafted polymer is ω-acrylate-terminated poly(3-hexylthiophene), the process comprising the successive stages of:
treatment of an amount, A1, of ω-hydroxyl-terminated P3HT in a container placed beforehand under an inert atmosphere;
addition of an amount, A2, of polar solvent, the A1/A2 ratio being between 2 and 10;
addition of an amount, A3, of a base, A3 being less than A2;
addition of an acrylate chloride.

Assignees

• Mougnier Sébastien-Jun
• Brochon Cyril
• Hadziioannou Georges
• Cloutet Eric
• Navarro Christophe
• Arkema France
• Univ Bordeaux 1
• Centre Nat Rech Scient
• Inst Polytechnique De Bourdeaux

Inventors

• Mougnier Sébastien-Jun
• Brochon Cyril
• Hadziioannou Georges
• Cloutet Eric
• Navarro Christophe

Classifications

• C08G2261/128

  graft · CPC title

• C08G2261/3223

  containing one or more sulfur atoms as the only heteroatom, e.g. thiophene · CPC title

• H10K30/50

  Photovoltaic [PV] devices · CPC title

• H10K85/211

  Fullerenes, e.g. C60 · CPC title

• C08K3/04

  Carbon · CPC title