All‐polymer solar cells with over 16% efficiency and enhanced stability enabled by compatible solvent and polymer additives

Considering the robust and stable nature of the active layers, advancing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) has long been the priority for all‐polymer solar cells (all‐PSCs). Despite the recent surge of PCE, the photovoltaic parameters of the state‐of‐the‐art all‐PSC still lag those of the polymer:small molecule‐based devices. To compete with the counterparts, judicious modulation of the morphology and thus the device electrical properties are needed. It is difficult to improve all the parameters concurrently for the all‐PSCs with advanced efficiency, and one increase is typically accompanied by the drop of the other(s). In this work, with the aids of the solvent additive (1‐chloronaphthalene) and the n‐type polymer additive (N2200), we can fine‐tune the morphology of the active layer and demonstrate a 16.04% efficient all‐PSC based on the PM6:PY‐IT active layer. The grazing incidence wide‐angle X‐ray scattering measurements show that the shape of the crystallites can be altered, and the reshaped crystallites lead to enhanced and more balanced charge transport, reduced recombination, and suppressed energy loss, which lead to concurrently improved and device efficiency and stability.

[1]  Jianhui Hou,et al.  Rational Anode Engineering Enables Progresses for Different Types of Organic Solar Cells , 2021, Advanced Energy Materials.

[2]  Jianhui Hou,et al.  n-doped inorganic molecular clusters as a new type of hole transport material for efficient organic solar cells , 2021 .

[3]  F. Huang,et al.  All-polymer solar cells with efficiency approaching 16% enabled using a dithieno[3′,2′:3,4;2′′,3′′:5,6]benzo[1,2-c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (fDTBT)-based polymer donor , 2021 .

[4]  Hongzheng Chen,et al.  Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Ternary Organic Photovoltaics with Efficiency over 18% , 2021, Advanced materials.

[5]  Weiqi Wang,et al.  High‐Performance All‐Polymer Solar Cells with a Pseudo‐Bilayer Configuration Enabled by a Stepwise Optimization Strategy , 2021, Advanced Functional Materials.

[6]  A. Jen,et al.  High Efficiency (15.8%) All-Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by a Regioregular Narrow Bandgap Polymer Acceptor. , 2021, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[7]  F. Huang,et al.  15.4% Efficiency all-polymer solar cells , 2021, Science China Chemistry.

[8]  Liming Ding,et al.  D18, an eximious solar polymer! , 2021 .

[9]  Bryon W. Larson,et al.  Single-layered organic photovoltaics with double cascading charge transport pathways: 18% efficiencies , 2020, Nature communications.

[10]  Bumjoon J. Kim,et al.  Efficient, Thermally Stable, and Mechanically Robust All‐Polymer Solar Cells Consisting of the Same Benzodithiophene Unit‐Based Polymer Acceptor and Donor with High Molecular Compatibility , 2020, Advanced Energy Materials.

[11]  X. Hao,et al.  Ferrocene as a highly volatile solid additive in non-fullerene organic solar cells with enhanced photovoltaic performance , 2020, Energy & Environmental Science.

[12]  F. Peng,et al.  A Universal Fluorinated Polymer Acceptor Enables All-Polymer Solar Cells with >15% Efficiency , 2020 .

[13]  Ruipeng Li,et al.  Highly efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells enabled by a delayed processing method using a non-halogenated solvent , 2020, Energy & Environmental Science.

[14]  Shouli Ming,et al.  High-efficiency ternary nonfullerene organic solar cells with record long-term thermal stability , 2020, Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

[15]  A. Emwas,et al.  A Simple n-Dopant Derived from Diquat Boosts the Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells to 18.3% , 2020 .

[16]  C. Zhong,et al.  Precisely Controlling the Position of Bromine on the End Group Enables Well‐Regular Polymer Acceptors for All‐Polymer Solar Cells with Efficiencies over 15% , 2020, Advanced materials.

[17]  Ruipeng Li,et al.  Suppressing Co‐Crystallization of Halogenated Non‐Fullerene Acceptors for Thermally Stable Ternary Solar Cells , 2020, Advanced Functional Materials.

[18]  Xiaochen Wang,et al.  Tuning the intermolecular interaction of A2-A1-D-A1-A2 type non-fullerene acceptors by substituent engineering for organic solar cells with ultrahigh VOC of ~1.2 V , 2020, Science China Chemistry.

[19]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Random terpolymer based on thiophene-thiazolothiazole unit enabling efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells , 2020, Nature Communications.

[20]  Tao Yang,et al.  A compatible polymer acceptor enables efficient and stable organic solar cells as a solid additive , 2020 .

[21]  M. Zhang,et al.  Understanding the Effect of End Group Halogenation in Tuning Miscibility and Morphology of High‐Performance Small Molecular Acceptors , 2020 .

[22]  C. Brabec,et al.  The role of exciton lifetime for charge generation in organic solar cells at negligible energy-level offsets , 2020, Nature Energy.

[23]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Polymerized Small Molecule Acceptors for High Performance All-polymer Solar Cells. , 2020, Angewandte Chemie.

[24]  A. Jen,et al.  Adding a Third Component with Reduced Miscibility and Higher LUMO Level Enables Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells , 2020 .

[25]  B. Liu,et al.  Reducing energy loss via tuning energy levels of polymer acceptors for efficient all-polymer solar cells , 2020, Science China Chemistry.

[26]  Jun Liu,et al.  Polymer Acceptors Containing a B←N Units for Organic Photovoltaics. , 2020, Accounts of chemical research.

[27]  Changduk Yang,et al.  A Non‐Conjugated Polymer Acceptor for Efficient and Thermally Stable All‐Polymer Solar Cells , 2020, Angewandte Chemie.

[28]  C. Brabec,et al.  High-performance all-polymer solar cells with only 0.47 eV energy loss , 2020, Science China Chemistry.

[29]  Richard H. Friend,et al.  Unifying Charge Generation, Recombination, and Extraction in Low‐Offset Non‐Fullerene Acceptor Organic Solar Cells , 2020, Advanced Energy Materials.

[30]  L. Meng,et al.  High Performance All-Polymer Solar Cells with the Polymer Acceptor Synthesized via a Random Ternary Copolymerization Strategy. , 2020, Angewandte Chemie.

[31]  M. Zhang,et al.  10.13% Efficiency All‐Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by Improving the Optical Absorption of Polymer Acceptors , 2020, Solar RRL.

[32]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Asymmetric Acceptors with Fluorine and Chlorine Substitution for Organic Solar Cells toward 16.83% Efficiency , 2020, Advanced Functional Materials.

[33]  T. Someya,et al.  Highly efficient organic photovoltaics with enhanced stability through the formation of doping-induced stable interfaces , 2020, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

[34]  Qiang Wu,et al.  Simultaneous enhanced efficiency and thermal stability in organic solar cells from a polymer acceptor additive , 2020, Nature Communications.

[35]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Improving open-circuit voltage by a chlorinated polymer donor endows binary organic solar cells efficiencies over 17% , 2020, Science China Chemistry.

[36]  A. Jen,et al.  Graphdiyne Derivative as Multifunctional Solid Additive in Binary Organic Solar Cells with 17.3% Efficiency and High Reproductivity , 2020, Advanced materials.

[37]  W. Jo,et al.  A built-in electric field induced by ferroelectrics increases halogen-free organic solar cell efficiency in various device types , 2020 .

[38]  Jianqi Zhang,et al.  Regulating the phase separation of ternary organic solar cells via 3D architectured AIE molecules , 2020 .

[39]  Shangfeng Yang,et al.  18% Efficiency organic solar cells. , 2020, Science bulletin.

[40]  Wenkai Zhong,et al.  Suppressing the excessive aggregation of nonfullerene acceptor in blade‐coated active layer by using n‐type polymer additive to achieve large‐area printed organic solar cells with efficiency over 15% , 2019, EcoMat.

[41]  Thuc‐Quyen Nguyen,et al.  Understanding the High Performance of over 15% Efficiency in Single‐Junction Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells , 2019, Advanced materials.

[42]  X. Gu,et al.  Aggregation‐Induced Multilength Scaled Morphology Enabling 11.76% Efficiency in All‐Polymer Solar Cells Using Printing Fabrication , 2019, Advanced materials.

[43]  Bryon W. Larson,et al.  Simultaneously Improved Efficiency and Stability in All-Polymer Solar Cells by a P–i–N Architecture , 2019, ACS Energy Letters.

[44]  Yang Yang,et al.  Design of a Rigid Scaffold Structure toward Efficient and Stable Organic Photovoltaics , 2019, Matter.

[45]  Hang Yin,et al.  Enhanced Electron Transport and Heat Transfer Boost Light Stability of Ternary Organic Photovoltaic Cells Incorporating Non‐Fullerene Small Molecule and Polymer Acceptors , 2019, Advanced Electronic Materials.

[46]  F. Liu,et al.  All-polymer solar cells based on a novel narrow-bandgap polymer acceptor with power conversion efficiency over 10% , 2019, Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

[47]  Bumjoon J. Kim,et al.  Recent Advances, Design Guidelines, and Prospects of All-Polymer Solar Cells. , 2019, Chemical reviews.

[48]  S. Jenekhe,et al.  New Random Copolymer Acceptors Enable Additive-Free Processing of 10.1% Efficient All-Polymer Solar Cells with Near-Unity Internal Quantum Efficiency , 2019, ACS Energy Letters.

[49]  F. Liu,et al.  Improving the efficiency and stability of non-fullerene polymer solar cells by using N2200 as the Additive , 2019, Nano Energy.

[50]  G. Wang,et al.  All-Polymer Solar Cells: Recent Progress, Challenges, and Prospects. , 2019, Angewandte Chemie.

[51]  Wenkai Zhong,et al.  15% Efficiency Tandem Organic Solar Cell Based on a Novel Highly Efficient Wide‐Bandgap Nonfullerene Acceptor with Low Energy Loss , 2019, Advanced Energy Materials.

[52]  Wei Chen,et al.  A chlorinated polymer promoted analogue co-donors for efficient ternary all-polymer solar cells , 2018, Science China Chemistry.

[53]  Jie Zhu,et al.  Design and application of volatilizable solid additives in non-fullerene organic solar cells , 2018, Nature Communications.

[54]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Highly Flexible and Efficient All-Polymer Solar Cells with High-Viscosity Processing Polymer Additive toward Potential of Stretchable Devices. , 2018, Angewandte Chemie.

[55]  Thomas Kirchartz,et al.  Optical Gaps of Organic Solar Cells as a Reference for Comparing Voltage Losses , 2018, Advanced Energy Materials.

[56]  He Yan,et al.  Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells , 2018, Nature Materials.

[57]  Zhaojun Li,et al.  Energy-effectively printed all-polymer solar cells exceeding 8.61% efficiency , 2018 .

[58]  Fujun Zhang,et al.  High-efficiency and air stable fullerene-free ternary organic solar cells , 2018 .

[59]  Feng Liu,et al.  Fluoro‐Substituted n‐Type Conjugated Polymers for Additive‐Free All‐Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells with High Power Conversion Efficiency of 6.71% , 2015, Advanced materials.

[60]  Long Ye,et al.  Binary additives synergistically boost the efficiency of all-polymer solar cells up to 3.45% , 2014 .

[61]  Christopher J. Tassone,et al.  A Mechanistic Understanding of Processing Additive‐Induced Efficiency Enhancement in Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells , 2014, Advanced materials.

[62]  John R. Tumbleston,et al.  Absolute Measurement of Domain Composition and Nanoscale Size Distribution Explains Performance in PTB7:PC71BM Solar Cells , 2013 .