Organic solar cells based on bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structures have attracted considerable attention because of their low fabrication cost, mechanical flexibility, and compatibility with solution-processing techniques. In BHJ organic photovoltaic devices, nanoscale morphology and crystallinity of the photoactive layer critically influence photovoltaic performance. In this study, the effects of solvent selection and thermal annealing on crystallization evolution and photovoltaic characteristics of P3HT:PCBM organic solar cells were systematically investigated. Three different solvents, including toluene, chlorobenzene (CB), and dichlorobenzene (DCB), were employed for active-layer fabrication, followed by post-thermal annealing treatment. UV–visible absorption spectroscopy revealed solvent-dependent differences in molecular ordering and intermolecular π–π interactions within the active layer. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed that thermal annealing significantly enhanced crystallinity and lamellar ordering of P3HT domains, particularly for CB-processed films. Electrical characterization demonstrated that solvent evaporation behavior strongly affects photovoltaic performance. Among the investigated devices, the thermally annealed CB-processed device exhibited the highest power conversion efficiency of 1.83% with an enhanced short-circuit current density of 7.057 mA cm⁻². The improved device performance is attributed to optimized crystallization behavior and balanced nanoscale phase separation induced by the moderate evaporation characteristics of CB. In contrast, although DCB-assisted films exhibited relatively strong optical absorption and enhanced crystallinity, excessively slow solvent evaporation likely induced excessive aggregation and coarse phase separation, limiting efficient photovoltaic characteristics. These results demonstrate that solvent engineering combined with thermal annealing is an effective strategy for controlling morphology evolution and crystallization behavior in P3HT:PCBM bulk heterojunction solar cells.

In this study, we investigate the effect of high-energy ball milling on thermoelectric transport properties in double-filled CoSb3 skutterudite (In0.2Yb0.1Co4Sb12). In0.2Yb0.1Co4Sb12 powders are milled using high-energy ball milling for different periods of time (0, 5, 10, and 20 min), and the milled powders are consolidated into bulk samples by spark plasma sintering. Microstructure analysis shows that the high-energy ball milled bulk samples are composed of nano- and micro-grains. Because the filling fractions are reduced in the bulk samples due to the kinetic energy of the high-energy ball milling, the carrier concentration of the bulk samples decreases with the ball milling time. Furthermore, the mobility of the bulk samples also decreases with the ball milling time due to enhanced grain boundary scattering of electrons. Reduction of electrical conductivity by ball milling has a decisive effect on thermoelectric transport in the bulk samples, power factor decreases with the ball milling time.

The effects of Al-substitution on thermoelectric and charge transport properties of BiCuOSe compounds were investigated. The compounds were prepared by a solid-state reaction and consolidated by SPS (spark plasma sintering). In spite of the increase in the hole concentration with increasing Al amounts in BiCuOSe compound, the electrical conductivity at room temperature was kept constant due to the reduction of mobility. However, electrical conductivities of Al-substituted BiCuOSe compounds at elevated temperature (> 600 K) were higher than those of BiCuOSe, and this result was discussed in terms of it``s the band gap energy. The Seebeck coefficient was drastically reduced when Al was substituted in Bi site, which indicated that the electronic structure was influenced by the Al-substitution into Bi-site.