We present noncontact atomic force microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy studies of nanophase segregated photovoltaic blends based on an oligothiophene-fluorenone oligomer and [6,6]-phenyl C70 butyric acid methyl ester. We carried out a complete analysis of the influence of the tip-surface interaction regime on the topographic, in-dark contact potential and surface photovoltage contrasts. It is demonstrated that an optimal lateral resolution is achieved for all channels below the onset of a contrast in the damping images. With the support of electrostatic simulations, it is shown that in-dark contact potential difference contrasts above subsurface acceptor clusters are consistent with an uneven distribution of permanent charges at the donor-acceptor interfaces. A remarkable dependence of the surface photovoltage magnitude with respect to the tip-surface distance is evidenced and attributed to a local enhancement of the electromagnetic field at the tip apex.
Keywords: KPFM; NC-AFM; donor−acceptor interfaces; organic photovoltaics; surface photovoltage.