A High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cell Enabled by the Strong Intramolecular Electron Push–Pull Effect of the Nonfullerene Acceptor

Besides broadening of the absorption spectrum, modulating molecular energy levels, and other well‐studied properties, a stronger intramolecular electron push–pull effect also affords other advantages in nonfullerene acceptors. A strong push–pull effect improves the dipole moment of the wings in IT‐4F over IT‐M and results in a lower miscibility than IT‐M when blended with PBDB‐TF. This feature leads to higher domain purity in the PBDB‐TF:IT‐4F blend and makes a contribution to the better photovoltaic performance. Moreover, the strong push–pull effect also decreases the vibrational relaxation, which makes IT‐4F more promising than IT‐M in reducing the energetic loss of organic solar cells. Above all, a power conversion efficiency of 13.7% is recorded in PBDB‐TF:IT‐4F‐based devices.

[1]  Long Ye,et al.  Miscibility–Function Relations in Organic Solar Cells: Significance of Optimal Miscibility in Relation to Percolation , 2018 .

[2]  H. Ade,et al.  Surpassing 10% Efficiency Benchmark for Nonfullerene Organic Solar Cells by Scalable Coating in Air from Single Nonhalogenated Solvent , 2018, Advanced materials.

[3]  H. Ade,et al.  Design of a New Small‐Molecule Electron Acceptor Enables Efficient Polymer Solar Cells with High Fill Factor , 2017, Advanced materials.

[4]  Q. Zheng,et al.  Angular-Shaped Dithienonaphthalene-Based Nonfullerene Acceptor for High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells with Large Open-Circuit Voltages and Minimal Energy Losses , 2017 .

[5]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Modulating the Molecular Packing and Nanophase Blending via a Random Terpolymerization Strategy toward 11% Efficiency Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells , 2017 .

[6]  Feng Liu,et al.  An A-D-A Type Small-Molecule Electron Acceptor with End-Extended Conjugation for High Performance Organic Solar Cells , 2017 .

[7]  Yun Zhang,et al.  Molecular Optimization Enables over 13% Efficiency in Organic Solar Cells. , 2017, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[8]  H. Ade,et al.  Significant Influence of the Methoxyl Substitution Position on Optoelectronic Properties and Molecular Packing of Small‐Molecule Electron Acceptors for Photovoltaic Cells , 2017 .

[9]  Joo-Hyun Kim,et al.  Efficient Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by a Novel Wide Bandgap Small Molecular Acceptor , 2017, Advanced materials.

[10]  Wei You,et al.  Single‐Junction Binary‐Blend Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells with 12.1% Efficiency , 2017, Advanced materials.

[11]  He Yan,et al.  A Wide-Bandgap Donor Polymer for Highly Efficient Non-fullerene Organic Solar Cells with a Small Voltage Loss. , 2017, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[12]  Runnan Yu,et al.  Design, Synthesis, and Photovoltaic Characterization of a Small Molecular Acceptor with an Ultra-Narrow Band Gap. , 2017, Angewandte Chemie.

[13]  X. Zhan,et al.  Realizing Small Energy Loss of 0.55 eV, High Open‐Circuit Voltage >1 V and High Efficiency >10% in Fullerene‐Free Polymer Solar Cells via Energy Driver , 2017, Advanced materials.

[14]  Qichun Zhang,et al.  Recent progress in non-fullerene small molecule acceptors in organic solar cells (OSCs) , 2017 .

[15]  H. Ade,et al.  Efficient Charge Transfer and Fine‐Tuned Energy Level Alignment in a THF‐Processed Fullerene‐Free Organic Solar Cell with 11.3% Efficiency , 2017, Advanced materials.

[16]  Chunru Wang,et al.  Fused Nonacyclic Electron Acceptors for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells. , 2017, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[17]  Chunfeng Zhang,et al.  11.4% Efficiency non-fullerene polymer solar cells with trialkylsilyl substituted 2D-conjugated polymer as donor , 2016, Nature Communications.

[18]  H. Yao,et al.  Fullerene-free polymer solar cell based on a polythiophene derivative with an unprecedented energy loss of less than 0.5 eV , 2016 .

[19]  I. McCulloch,et al.  Reduced voltage losses yield 10% efficient fullerene free organic solar cells with >1 V open circuit voltages† †Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available. See DOI: 10.1039/c6ee02598f Click here for additional data file. , 2016, Energy & environmental science.

[20]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Side-Chain Isomerization on an n-type Organic Semiconductor ITIC Acceptor Makes 11.77% High Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells. , 2016, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[21]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on a selenophene-containing fused-ring acceptor with photovoltaic performance of 8.6% , 2016 .

[22]  Long Ye,et al.  Energy‐Level Modulation of Small‐Molecule Electron Acceptors to Achieve over 12% Efficiency in Polymer Solar Cells , 2016, Advanced materials.

[23]  Kai Zhang,et al.  Design and Synthesis of a Low Bandgap Small Molecule Acceptor for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells , 2016, Advanced materials.

[24]  H. Ade,et al.  Fast charge separation in a non-fullerene organic solar cell with a small driving force , 2016, Nature Energy.

[25]  Alberto Salleo,et al.  High-efficiency and air-stable P3HT-based polymer solar cells with a new non-fullerene acceptor , 2016, Nature Communications.

[26]  Long Ye,et al.  Molecular Design of Benzodithiophene-Based Organic Photovoltaic Materials. , 2016, Chemical reviews.

[27]  Luping Yu,et al.  Covalently Bound Clusters of Alpha-Substituted PDI-Rival Electron Acceptors to Fullerene for Organic Solar Cells. , 2016, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[28]  Yi Zhou,et al.  Non-fullerene acceptor with low energy loss and high external quantum efficiency: towards high performance polymer solar cells , 2016 .

[29]  H. Ade,et al.  Efficient organic solar cells processed from hydrocarbon solvents , 2016, Nature Energy.

[30]  C. B. Nielsen,et al.  Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors for Use in Organic Solar Cells , 2015, Accounts of chemical research.

[31]  H. Ade,et al.  A Large‐Bandgap Conjugated Polymer for Versatile Photovoltaic Applications with High Performance , 2015, Advanced materials.

[32]  Yongsheng Chen,et al.  A perylene diimide (PDI)-based small molecule with tetrahedral configuration as a non-fullerene acceptor for organic solar cells , 2015 .

[33]  Daoben Zhu,et al.  An Electron Acceptor Challenging Fullerenes for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells , 2015, Advanced materials.

[34]  Yang Yang,et al.  Electronic Structure and Transition Energies in Polymer–Fullerene Bulk Heterojunctions , 2014, The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

[35]  Xiaowei Zhan,et al.  Non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics: an emerging horizon , 2014 .

[36]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Improvement of open-circuit voltage and photovoltaic properties of 2D-conjugated polymers by alkylthio substitution , 2014 .

[37]  Yang Yang,et al.  A polymer tandem solar cell with 10.6% power conversion efficiency , 2013, Nature Communications.

[38]  Bumjoon J. Kim,et al.  Effects of Solubilizing Group Modification in Fullerene Bis-Adducts on Normal and Inverted Type Polymer Solar Cells , 2012 .

[39]  A. Hexemer,et al.  Soft x-ray scattering facility at the Advanced Light Source with real-time data processing and analysis. , 2012, The Review of scientific instruments.

[40]  A. Roy,et al.  Recombination in polymer-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2010, 1010.5021.

[41]  Jean Manca,et al.  Relating the open-circuit voltage to interface molecular properties of donor:acceptor bulk heterojunction solar cells , 2010 .

[42]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Indene-C(60) bisadduct: a new acceptor for high-performance polymer solar cells. , 2010, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[43]  Yang Yang,et al.  Polymer solar cells with enhanced open-circuit voltage and efficiency , 2009 .

[44]  Nelson E. Coates,et al.  Bulk heterojunction solar cells with internal quantum efficiency approaching 100 , 2009 .

[45]  Shijun Jia,et al.  Polymer–Fullerene Bulk‐Heterojunction Solar Cells , 2009, Advanced materials.

[46]  J. C. de Mello,et al.  Charge extraction analysis of charge carrier densities in a polythiophene/fullerene solar cell: Analysis of the origin of the device dark current , 2008 .

[47]  Jin Young Kim,et al.  Processing additives for improved efficiency from bulk heterojunction solar cells. , 2008, Journal of the American Chemical Society.

[48]  N. S. Sariciftci,et al.  A review of charge transport and recombination in polymer/fullerene organic solar cells , 2007 .

[49]  E. Moons,et al.  Morphology and Phase Segregation of Spin-Casted Films of Polyfluorene/PCBM Blends , 2007 .

[50]  N. S. Sariciftci,et al.  Charge transport and recombination in bulk heterojunction solar cells studied by the photoinduced charge extraction in linearly increasing voltage technique , 2005 .

[51]  Christoph J. Brabec,et al.  Organic photovoltaics: technology and market , 2004 .

[52]  Frederik C. Krebs,et al.  A brief history of the development of organic and polymeric photovoltaics , 2004 .

[53]  S. Jenekhe,et al.  Electrochemical Properties and Electronic Structures of Conjugated Polyquinolines and Polyanthrazolines , 1996 .

[54]  C. A. Walsh,et al.  Efficient photodiodes from interpenetrating polymer networks , 1995, Nature.

[55]  Jie Yao,et al.  Preparation and Characterization of Fulleroid and Methanofullerene Derivatives , 1995 .

[56]  J. Comyn,et al.  Contact angles and adhesive bonding , 1992 .

[57]  Mireille Blanchard-Desce,et al.  Intramolecular charge transfer in donor-acceptor molecules , 1990 .

[58]  C. Tang.  Two‐layer organic photovoltaic cell , 1986 .

[59]  Yongfang Li,et al.  Mapping Polymer Donors toward High‐Efficiency Fullerene Free Organic Solar Cells , 2017, Advanced materials.

[60]  Thomas Kirchartz,et al.  Quantifying Losses in Open-Circuit Voltage in Solution-Processable Solar Cells , 2015 .

[61]  A. Heeger,et al.  25th Anniversary Article: Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Understanding the Mechanism of Operation , 2014, Advanced materials.