Double‐Cable Conjugated Polymers with Pendent Near‐Infrared Electron Acceptors for Single‐Component Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

Double-cable conjugated polymers with near-infrared (NIR) electron acceptors are synthesized for use in single-component organic solar cells (SCOSCs). Through the development of a judicious synthetic pathway, the highly sensitive nature of the 2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydroinden-1-ylidene)malononitrile (IC)-based electron acceptors in basic and protonic solvents is overcome. In addition, an asymmetric design motif is adopted to optimize the packing of donor and acceptor segments, enhancing charge separation efficiency. As such, the new double-cable polymers are successfully applied in SCOSCs, providing an efficiency of over 10 % with a broad photo response from 300 to 850 nm and exhibiting excellent thermal/light stability. These results demonstrate the powerful design of NIR-acceptor-based double-cable polymers and will enable SCOSCs to enter a new stage.

Effects of alkyl chains of benzothiadiazole-based conjugated polymers on the photovoltaic performance of non-fullerene organic solar cells

“…Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) based on electron donor and acceptor are considered as a promising solar-energy-harvesting technology due to their low cost, lightweight, and roll-to-roll printing compatibility. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The studies of OSCs have made significant progress in recent years due to the development of p-type donor and n-type acceptor materials. [9][10][11][12] Numerous high-performance conjugated materials have been developed, particularly for the evolution of acceptor-donoracceptor (A-D-A) structured non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs), 13,14 which contain an electron-rich core (D) and two electron-deficient terminal groups (A).…”

Double-Cable Conjugated Polymers Based on Simple Non-Fused Electron Acceptors for Single-Component Organic Solar Cells

“…Consequently, the DCPCl-2based cells exhibited the highest PCE of 8.23% compared to those of DCPCl-0, DCPCl-3, and the BHJ-type OSCs, which is among the top performance of SCOSC-based double-cable conjugated polymers. 22 To investigate the vertical bulk charge-transport properties of these polymers, we conducted space charge-limited current (SCLC) measurements. 51,52 The typical J−V curves for the electron-only devices are shown in Figure S13.…”

“…Therefore, molecular heterojunctions have received increasing attention over the past decades, and in particular during the past 5 years, SCOSCs based on molecular heterojunctions have shown significant progress of efficiency and stability. ,,, For example, Bäuerle et al reported oligomer dyads using near-infrared conjugated backbones paired with fullerene acceptors as side units, providing PCEs over 5% in SCOSCs . Ma et al, Min et al, and Jen et al developed diblock-type conjugated polymers based on PBDB-T and its derivatives as donor segments paired with Y-series polymers as acceptor segments, showing PCEs over 14%. − Here, we have developed the monomers pendant with electron acceptors as side units for use in polycondensation reaction, resulting in a large number of double-cable conjugated polymers with tunable physical properties. ,− As a consequence, we recently surpassed the 10% PCE milestone for SCOSCs based on double-cable conjugated polymers …”

A–D–A-Type Porphyrins for Single-Component Organic Solar Cells

“…More recently, Li et al. synthesized a series of double-cable-conjugated polymers with nonfullerene units perylene bisimide (PBI) and naphthalene diimide (NDI) as the side units for use in SCOSCs. − The photoelectric conversion efficiency of double-cable-conjugated polymers with a near-infrared (NIR) electron acceptor even exceed 10% . Compared with polymers, small-molecule materials have unique advantages including defined structures and excellent device reproducibility .…”

“…22−26 The photoelectric conversion efficiency of double-cable-conjugated polymers with a near-infrared (NIR) electron acceptor even exceed 10%. 27 Compared with polymers, small-molecule materials have unique advantages including defined structures and excellent device reproducibility. 28 For example, Li et al 29 developed ordered nanostructures of small-molecule dyes as single components and achieved 2.52% efficiency.…”