Energy‐Level Modulation of Small‐Molecule Electron Acceptors to Achieve over 12% Efficiency in Polymer Solar Cells

Li, Sunsun; Ye, Long; Zhao, Wenchao; Zhang, Shaoqing; Mukherjee, Subhrangsu; Ade, Harald; Hou, Jianhui

doi:10.1002/adma.201602776

Cited by 1,310 publications

(1,038 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Materials PBDB-T and IT-M were synthesized in our laboratory according to the previous studies [41]. The number average molecular weight (M n ) of PBDB-T was 22 kDa with a polydispersity index (PDI) of 3.3.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Great efforts have been made to improve the power conversion effi-ciencies (PCEs) of OSCs by utilizing novel materials and new processing methods over the past decades [1,[20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. Recently, high-performance non-fullerene acceptor materials, especially the small-molecular acceptors (SMAs), were successfully developed [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45]. These SMAs materials exhibit excellent solubility in non-halogen solvents, such as o-xylene (XY), anisole and tetrahydrofuran (THF) [46], which have brought the possibility of fabricating high-performance non-fullerene OSCs using non-halogen solvent systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1), which had demonstrated high photovoltaic performance in devices [41,53,54]. Prior to the device study, the solubility of PBDB-T in different halogen-free solvents, such as XY, anisole and THF, was initially tested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmentally-friendly solvent processed fullerene-free organic solar cells enabled by screening halogen-free solvent additives

Zhao

et al. 2017

Sci. China Mater.

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Though the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs) have been boosted to 12%, the use of highly pollutive halogenated solvents as the processing solvent significantly hinders the mass production of OSCs. It is thus necessary to achieve high-efficiency OSCs by utilizing the halogen-free and environmentally-friendly solvents. Herein, we applied a halogen-free solvent system (oxylene/1-phenylnaphthalene, XY/PN) for fabricating fullerene-free OSCs, and a high PCE of 11.6% with a notable fill factor (FF) of 72% was achieved based on the PBDB-T:IT-M blend, which is among the top efficiencies of halogen-free solvent processed OSCs. In addition, the influence of different halogen-free solvent additives on the blend morphology and device performance metrics was studied by synchrotron-based tools and other complementary methods. Morphological results indicate the highly ordered molecular packing and highest average domain purity obtained in the blend films prepared by using XY/PN co-solvent are favorable for achieving increased FFs and thus higher PCEs in the devices. Moreover, a lower interaction parameter (χ) of the IT-M:PN pair provides a good explanation for the more favorable morphology and performance in devices with PN as the solvent additive, relative to those with diphenyl ether and Nmethylpyrrolidone. Our study demonstrates that carefully screening the non-halogenated solvent additive plays a vital role in realizing the efficient and environmentally-friendly solvent processed OSCs.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Environmentally-friendly solvent processed fullerene-free organic solar cells enabled by screening halogen-free solvent additives

Zhao

et al. 2017

Sci. China Mater.

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“…The state‐of‐the‐art single‐junction OSCs with plasmonic cavity structures,1, 2, 3 textured light trapping structures,4, 5 multiplasmonic effects,6, 7, 8 morphological implementation,9, 10 bandgap tuning,11, 12 and solution fabrication method13 now provide over 8–11% of power conversion efficiency (PCE) based on the above approaches or a combination of these approaches. However, over the past few years, a serious difficulty has also been observed in the increase of the PCE of single‐junction OSCs to over 12%.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

Park

2018

Advanced Science

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The application of nanophotonic structures for organic solar cells (OSCs) is quite popular and successful, and has led to increased optical absorption, better spectral overlap with solar irradiances, and improved charge collection. Significant improvements in the power conversion efficiency (PCE) have also been reported, exceeding 11%. Nonetheless, with the given material properties of OSCs with low optical absorption, narrow spectrum, short transport length of carriers, and nonuniform photocarrier generations resulting from the nanophotonic structure, the PCE of single‐junction OSCs has been stagnant over the past few years, at a barrier of 12%. Here, an ultrathin inverted OSC structure with the highest efficiency of ≈13.0%, while being made from widely used organic materials, is demonstrated. By introducing a smooth spatial corrugation to the vertical plasmonic cavity enclosing the active layer, in‐plane propagation modes and hybridized Fabry–Perot cavity modes inside the corrugated cavity are derived to achieve an ultralow Q, uniform coverage of optical absorption, in addition to uniform photocarrier generation and transport. As the first demonstration of ultra‐broadband absorption with the introduction of spatial corrugation to the ultrathin metal film electrode–cathode Fabry–Perot cavity, future applications of the same concept in other light‐harvesting devices utilizing different materials and structures are expected.

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“…Zhan's group first reported IDTT‐based acceptor (ITIC), when blended with PTB7‐Th, the device delivered a PCE of 6.8% 23. Recently, using ITIC as electron acceptor, nonfullerene PSCs have reached high performance of 9–12% 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29. These promising results have attracted tremendous interests to investigate IEIC and ITIC derivatives as electron acceptors.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Electron Acceptor with meta‐Alkoxyphenyl Side Chain for Fullerene‐Free Polymer Solar Cells with 9.3% Efficiency

Zhang

Feng

et al. 2017

Advanced Science

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A new small molecule acceptor, m‐ITIC‐OR, based on indacenodithieno[3,2‐b]thiophene core with meta‐alkoxyphenyl side chains, is designed and synthesized. The m‐ITIC‐OR film shows broader and redshift absorption compared to its solution and matched energy levels with a hexafluoroquinoxaline‐based polymer donor‐HFQx‐T. Here, polymer solar cells (PSCs) by blending an HFQx‐T donor and an m‐ITIC‐OR acceptor as an active layer deliver the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.36% without any posttreatment. The investigations demonstrate that the HFQx‐T:m‐ITIC‐OR blend films possess higher and more balanced charge mobility, negligible bimolecular recombination, and nanoscale interpenetrating morphology after thermal annealing (TA) treatment. Through a simple TA treatment at 150 °C for 5 min, an impressive PCE of 9.3% is obtained. This efficiency is among one of the highest PCEs for additive free PSCs. This is the first time alkoxyphenyl side chain is introduced into nonfullerene electron acceptor; more interestingly, the new electron acceptor (m‐ITIC‐OR) in this work shows a great potential for highly efficient photovoltaic properties.

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Energy‐Level Modulation of Small‐Molecule Electron Acceptors to Achieve over 12% Efficiency in Polymer Solar Cells

Cited by 1,310 publications

References 51 publications

Environmentally-friendly solvent processed fullerene-free organic solar cells enabled by screening halogen-free solvent additives

Environmentally-friendly solvent processed fullerene-free organic solar cells enabled by screening halogen-free solvent additives

Ultrathin Organic Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency of Over ≈13.0%, Based on the Spatial Corrugation of the Metal Electrode–Cathode Fabry–Perot Cavity

A New Electron Acceptor with meta‐Alkoxyphenyl Side Chain for Fullerene‐Free Polymer Solar Cells with 9.3% Efficiency

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