A simultaneous further increase in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and device stability of organic solar cells (OSCs) over the current levels needs to be overcome for their commercial viability. Herein, a bay‐area benzamide‐functionalized perylene diimide‐based electron transport layer, namely H75 is developed, to obtain the aforementioned characteristics. The advantages of H75‐employed OSCs include a notable PCE up to 18.26% and outstanding device stabilities under conditions of varying severity (>95% PCE retention after 1500 h upon long‐term aging and exceptional T80 lifetimes (the time required to reach 80% of initial performance) of over 1000 h in light‐soaking, 500 h in thermal stress at 85 °C, 72 h in 85% high relative humidity, and 100 h in atmospheric‐air conditions without encapsulation in conventional architecture). The excellent performance of H75‐employed OSC can be attributed to its various beneficial features derived from the bay‐area benzamide functionalities (e.g., excellent film‐forming ability, suitable energy level, reduced aggregation, and intrinsic high structural stability). The findings of this work provide further insights into the molecular design of electron transport layers for realizing more efficient and stable OSCs.
A bicontinuous cubic (Cubbi) liquid crystalline (LC) phase consisting of three dimensional (3D) conducting networks is a promising structural platform for ion-conductors. For practical applications using this fascinating LC structure, it is necessary to suppress crystallization at room temperature (RT). Herein, we report the Cubbi structure at RT and the morphology–dependent conduction behavior in ionic samples of a non-crystallizable dendritic amphiphile. In the molecular design, branched alkyl chains were used as an ionophobic part instead of crystallizable linear alkyl chains. Two ionic samples with Cubbi and hexagonal columnar (Colhex) LC phases at RT were prepared by adding different amounts of lithium salt to the amphiphile. Impedance analysis demonstrated that the Cubbi phase contributed to the faster ion-conduction to a larger extent than the Colhex phase due to the 3D ionic networks of the Cubbi phase. In addition, the temperature–dependent impedance and electric modulus data provided information regarding the phase transition from microphase-separated phase to molecularly mixed liquid phase.
Manganese dioxide (MnO2) is a promising electrode material for electrochemical supercapacitor applications due to its low cost, eco-friendly and high theoretical specific capacitance in a wide potential window. In this study, MnO2 and Ag-doped MnO2 are prepared by cathodic electrodeposition on graphite substrate from electrolyte with the main compound of potassium permanganate using pulse potentiostatic technique. The effect of Ag doping on the morphology, structure and electrochemical properties of MnO2 materials are investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX), cyclic voltammetry (CV), galvanostatic charge-discharge measurement and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) are used for characterization of the prepared materials. The results show that doping Ag into the MnO2 structure has improved electrochemical characteristics of materials. The specific capacitances are calculated for pure MnO2 and Ag-doped MnO2 to be 272.84 and 277.48 F/g, respectively. The prepared materials exhibit the high charge-discharge stability, maintaining at about 92 % for MnO2 and 95 % for Ag-doped MnO2 after 500 cycles of the charge-discharge operation.
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