A Noncovalently Fused-Ring Asymmetric Electron Acceptor Enables Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Main observation and conclusion Recently,the asymmetric nonfullerene acceptors(NFAs)with acceptor-donor-acceptor(A-D-A)structure have been developed rapidly,especially for the modification of asymmetric core,asymmetric side chains and asymmetric end groups.In this work,a novel asymmetric A-D-π-A type NFA with a noncovalently fused-ring core named PIST-4F is synthesized,containing an indacenodithieno[3,2-b]dithiophene(IDT),two strong electron-withdrawing end groups and an alkylthio-substituted thiopheneπ-bridge.Benefiting from the S···S noncovalent interaction between the sulfur atom onπ-bridge and the adjacent thiophene in IDT,the PIST-4F presents nearly planar geometry and extended conjugated area,resulting in the optimized electronic properties,charge transport,and film morphology compared to the symmetric NFA PI-4F.As a result,PM6:PIST-4F-based devices achieve a higher power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 13.8%,while the PM6:PI-4F-based devices only show a PCE of 7.1%.Notably,the PM6:PIST-4F-based devices processed with nonhalogen solvent toluene exhibit an excellent PCE as high as 13.1%.These results indicate that PIST-4F is an effective acceptor for high-efficiency organic solar cells.