Manipulating electronic energy levels of wide-bandgap D–A copolymers via side-chain engineering to realize high open-circuit voltage polymer solar cells

AbstractAll-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) based on polymerized small molecular acceptors (PSMAs) have made significant progress recently. Here, we synthesize two A-DA’D-A small molecule acceptor based PSMAs of PS-Se with benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole A’-core and PN-Se with benzotriazole A’-core, for the studies of the effect of molecular structure on the photovoltaic performance of the PSMAs. The two PSMAs possess broad absorption with PN-Se showing more red-shifted absorption than PS-Se and suitable electronic energy levels for the application as polymer acceptors in the all-PSCs with PBDB-T as polymer donor. Cryogenic transmission electron microscopy visualizes the aggregation behavior of the PBDB-T donor and the PSMA in their solutions. In addition, a bicontinuous-interpenetrating network in the PBDB-T:PN-Se blend film with aggregation size of 10~20 nm is clearly observed by the photoinduced force microscopy. The desirable morphology of the PBDB-T:PN-Se active layer leads its all-PSC showing higher power conversion efficiency of 16.16%.

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High-performance nonfullerene polymer solar cells based on a fluorinated wide bandgap copolymer with a high open-circuit voltage of 1.04 V

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c7ta07785h ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (42) ◽

pp. 22180-22185 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Yan Wang ◽

Qunping Fan ◽

Xia Guo ◽

Wanbin Li ◽

Bing Guo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Energy Loss ◽

Small Molecule ◽

High Performance ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Wide Bandgap ◽

Open Circuit

Nonfullerene polymer solar cells based on a polymer donor PM6 containing a fluorinated-thienyl benzodithiophene unit and a small molecule acceptor ITIC showed a PCE of 9.7% with a Voc of up to 1.04 V and an energy loss as low as 0.51 eV.

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Poly(benzodithiophene) Homopolymer for High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells with Open-Circuit Voltage of Near 1 V: A Superior Candidate To Substitute for Poly(3-hexylthiophene) as Wide Bandgap Polymer

Chemistry of Materials ◽

10.1021/acs.chemmater.5b00481 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 27 (7) ◽

pp. 2653-2658 ◽

Cited By ~ 36

Author(s):

Tae Eui Kang ◽

Taesu Kim ◽

Cheng Wang ◽

Seunghyup Yoo ◽

Bumjoon J. Kim

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

High Performance ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Wide Bandgap ◽

Open Circuit ◽

High Performance Polymer ◽

Wide Bandgap Polymer

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Synthesis of Bithiophene-Based D-A1-D-A2 Terpolymers with Different A2 Moieties for Polymer Solar Cells via Direct Arylation

Polymers ◽

10.3390/polym11010055 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 55 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jinfeng Huang ◽

Zhenkun Lin ◽

Wenhuai Feng ◽

Wen Wang

Keyword(s):

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Energy Levels ◽

Open Circuit ◽

Side Chain ◽

Film Morphology ◽

Photovoltaic Properties ◽

Direct Arylation ◽

Blend Film ◽

Highest Occupied Molecular Orbital

A series of bithiophene (2T)-based D-A1-D-A2 terpolymers with different A2 moieties were prepared via direct arylation reaction. In these terpolymers, pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4-dione (DPP) was selected as the first electron-accepting (A1) moiety, 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BT) or fluorinated benzothiadiazole (FBT) or octyl-thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) or 2,1,3-benzoselendiazole (SeT) was selected as the second electron-accepting (A2) moiety, while bithiophene with hexyl side chain was used as the electron-donating moiety. The UV-vis absorption, electrochemical properties, blend film morphology, and photovoltaic properties were studied to explore the effects of the A2 moiety. It is shown that these terpolymer films exhibit broad absorption (350–1000 nm), full width at half-maximum of more than 265 nm and ordered molecular packing. Varying the A2 moiety could affect the energy levels and blend film morphology leading to different polymer solar cell (PSC) performances of these (2T)-based D-A1-D-A2 terpolymers. As a result, the highest Jsc of 10.70 mA/cm2 is achieved for Polymer 1 (P1) with BT as A2 moiety, while the higher highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level limits the open circuit voltage (Voc) and leads to a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 3.46%.

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Efficiency Exceeding 11% in Tandem Polymer Solar Cells Employing High Open-Circuit Voltage Wide-Bandgap π-Conjugated Polymers

Advanced Energy Materials ◽

10.1002/aenm.201700782 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 7 (21) ◽

pp. 1700782 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Seyeong Song ◽

Kakaraparthi Kranthiraja ◽

Jungwoo Heo ◽

Taehyo Kim ◽

Bright Walker ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Conjugated Polymers ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Wide Bandgap ◽

Open Circuit

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Molecular Design of Photovoltaic Materials for Polymer Solar Cells: Toward Suitable Electronic Energy Levels and Broad Absorption

Accounts of Chemical Research ◽

10.1021/ar2002446 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 45 (5) ◽

pp. 723-733 ◽

Cited By ~ 2185

Author(s):

Yongfang Li

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Molecular Design ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Energy Levels ◽

Electronic Energy ◽

Broad Absorption ◽

Photovoltaic Materials ◽

Electronic Energy Levels

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An efficient method to achieve a balanced open circuit voltage and short circuit current density in polymer solar cells

Journal of Materials Chemistry A ◽

10.1039/c6ta02298g ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 (21) ◽

pp. 8291-8297 ◽

Cited By ~ 34

Author(s):

Dongfeng Dang ◽

Pei Zhou ◽

Linrui Duan ◽

Xichang Bao ◽

Renqiang Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solar Cells ◽

Current Density ◽

Efficient Method ◽

Open Circuit Voltage ◽

Polymer Solar Cells ◽

Short Circuit ◽

Energy Levels ◽

Short Circuit Current ◽

Short Circuit Current Density ◽

Open Circuit

Good light harvesting properties and matched energy levels as well as enhanced Jsc value and high Voc value in solar cells were achieved simultaneously by construction of the D–A–π–A type regular terpolymers of PIDT-DTQ-TT, finally leading to the maximum PCE value of 6.63% in PSCs.

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