Superiority of branched side chains in spontaneous nanowire formation: exemplified by poly(3-2-methylbutylthiophene) for high-performance solar cells.

One-dimensional nanostructures containing heterojunctions by conjugated polymers, such as nanowires, are expected to greatly facilitate efficient charge transfer in bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. Thus, a combined theoretical and experimental approach is pursued to explore spontaneous nanowire formation. A dissipative particle dynamics simulation is first performed to study the morphologies formed by rodlike polymers with various side-chain structures.