Significant influence of doping effect on photovoltaic performance of efficient fullerene-free polymer solar cells

The modification mechanism of the water/alcohol cathode interlayer is one of the most complicated problems in the field of organic photovoltaics,which has not been clearly elucidated yet;this greatly restricts the further enhancement of the PCE for polymer solar cells.Herein,we clarified the different effects of PFN and its derivatives,namely,poly[(9,9-bis(3’-((N,N-dimethyl)-N-ethylammonium)-propyl)-2,7-fluorene)-alt-2,7-(9,9-dioctylfluorene)](PFN-Br) in modifying fullerene-free PSCs.It is found for the first time that doping on IT-4F by the amino group of PFN leads to the unfavorable charge accumulation,and hence,forms a dense layer of electronegative molecule due to the poor electron transport capacity of the non-fullerene acceptor IT-4F.The electronegative molecular layer can block the electron transfer from the active layer to the interlayer and cause serious charge recombination at the active layer/cathode interface.This mechanism could be verified by the ESR measurement and electron-only devices.By replacing PFN with PFN-Br,the excessive doping effect between the cathode interlayer and IT-4F is eliminated,by which the charge transport and collection can be greatly improved.As a result,a high PCE of 13.5%was achieved in the fullerene-free PSCs.

Optimizing polymer aggregation and blend morphology for boosting the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells via a random terpolymerization strategy

Compared to regular conjugated polymers,the random conjugated terpolymers are usually not beneficial to achieve highly efficient non-fullerene(NF)-based polymer solar cells(PSCs)due to their disordered chemical structures.In this work,we report two random terpolymer donors(PBNB80 and PBNB50)by tuning the molar ratio of electron-accepting units of 1,3-di(thiophen-2-yl)naphtho[2,3-c]thiophene-4,9-dione(NTD)and 1,3-bis(4-chlorothiophen-2-yl)-4 H,8 H-benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c’]dithiophene-4,8-dione(ClBDD),at the same time,the parent polymers(PBNB100 and PBNB00)are also compared to study.These four polymer donors exhibit similar optical bandgaps and gradually deepen highest occupied molecular orbital levels.Importantly,aggregation and self-organization properties of the random terpolymer donors are optimized,which result in the better morphology and crystal coherence length after blending with NF acceptor of BO-4 Cl.Particularly,a PBNB80:BO-4 Cl blend forms an optimal nanoscale phase-separation morphology,thereby producing an outstanding power conversion efficiency of 16.0%,which is much higher than those(12.8%and 10.7%)of their parent binary polymer donor-based devices.This work demonstrates that rational using terpolymerization strategy to prepare random terpolymer is a very important method to achieve highly efficient NF-PSCs.

A Uniform Reference Line Based Differential Phase Shifter with Wide Phase Range and Wide Bandwidth

To implement the multi-way phase shifting maintaining the compact size and simplicity in structure,the uniform reference line concept was proposed for the differential phase shifter.However,the performance in bandwidth and phase range deteriorates with the additional requirements considered.To solve this problem,a quarter wavelength coupled line section loaded with open/short stubs is proposed as the basic element to implement the main line and also reference line.According to the theoretical analysis on this basic element,the loading stubs can be used to control the phase shift and also the phase slope of the basic element without affecting the amplitude property.With the predetermined parameters of the uniform reference line,only two parameters are required for the implementation of different differential phase shifts.This demonstrates the high simplicity of the proposed structure.For demonstration,an eight-way differential phase shifter operating at 3.5 GHz was implemented using the vertically installed planar structure.The prototype was further fabricated and measured.Good agreement between simulation and measurement can be observed.The implemented phase shifter can provide a wide range of phase shifting values from 45°to 315°with reference to the uniform reference line over a relative bandwidth of 62.3%.

Facile solution-processed molybdenum oxide as hole transporting material for efficient organic solar cell

The large energy barrier in hole extraction still remains a great challenge in developing hole transporting layer (HTL) materials for organic solar cells (OSCs).Thus,solution-processed HTL materials with excellent hole collection ability and good compatibility with large-area processing technique are strongly desired for OSCs.Herein,we developed a cost-effective and solution-processed MoO_(3)HTL for efficient OSCs.By adding a small amount of glucose as reducing reagent into the ammonium molybdate precursor solution,a deeply n-doped MoO_(3),namely G:Mo,was prepared through the sol–gel method.Compared to pristine MoO_(3),the conductivity of G:Mo was enhanced by two orders of magnitude,which greatly improved the hole collection ability of the HTL.OSCs with G:Mo can exhibit comparable PCE to the PEDOT:PSS device.Using PBDB-TF:BTP-eC9 as the active layer,a PCE of 17.1%is obtained for the device,which is the highest PCE value for OSC using a solution-processed MoO_(3)HTL.More importantly,G:Mo is well compatible with the blade-coating processing.The OSC using a blade-coated G:Mo showed almost no PCE loss as compared to the device with spin-coated G:Mo HTL.The results from this work indicate that G:Mo is a promising HTL material for the practical production of OSCs.

Understanding the Interfacial Energy Structure and Electron Extraction Process in Inverted Organic Solar Cells with Phosphine-Doped Cathode Interlayers

Comprehensive Summary Cathode interlayers(CILs)play an essential role in achieving efficient organic solar cells(OSCs).However,the electronic structure at the electrode/CIL/active layer interfaces and the underlying mechanisms for electron collection remain unclear,which becomes a major obstacle to develop high-performance CILs.Herein,we investigate the relationship of the electron collection abilities of four cross-linked and n-doped CILs(c-NDI:P0,c-NDI:P1,c-NDI:P2,c-NDI:P3)with their electronic structure of space charge region at heterojunction interface.By accurately calculating the depletion region width according to the barrier height,doping density and permittivity,we put forward that the optimal thickness of CIL should be consistent with the depletion region width to realize the minimum energy loss.As a result,the depletion region width is largely reduced from 13 nm to 0.8 nm at the indium tin oxide(ITO)/c-NDI:P0 interface,resulting in a decent PCE of 17.7%for the corresponding inverted OSCs.

“Mutually Doped”Conjugated Polyelectrolyte-Polyoxometalate Complex as Hole Transporting Material for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Comprehensive Summary Compared to electron transporting layer materials,the species and numbers of hole transporting layer(HTL)materials for organic solar cells(OSCs)are rare.The development of HTL materials with excellent hole collection ability and non-corrosive nature is a long-standing issue in the field of OSCs.Herein,we designed and synthesized a series of conjugated polyelectrolytes(CPEs)with continuously varied energy levels toward HTL materials for efficient OSCs.Through a“mutual doping”treatment,we obtained a CPE composite PCT-F:POM with a WF of 5.48 eV and a conductivity of 1.56х10^(-3)S/m,meaning that a good hole collection ability can be expected for PCT-F:POM.The OSC modified by PCT-F:POM showed a high PCE of 18.0%,which was superior to the reference device with PEDOT:PSS.Moreover,the PCT-F:POM-based OSC could maintain 91%of the initial PCE value after storage of 20 d,meaning that the long-term stability of OSCs is improved by incorporating the PCT-F:POM HTL.In addition,PCT-F:POM possesses good compatibility with large-area processing technique;i.e.,a PCT-F:POM HTL was processed by the blade-coating method for fabricating 1 cm^(2)OSC,and a PCE of 15.1%could be achieved.The results suggest the promising perspective of PCT-F:POM in practical applications.

Critical Role of Molecular Electrostatic Potential on Charge Generation in Organic Solar Cells

Revealing the charge generation is a crucial step to understand the organic photovoltaics. Recent development in non-fullerene organic solar cells （OSCs） indicates efficient charge separation even with negligible energetic offset between the donor and acceptor materials. These new findings trigger a critical question concerning the charge separation mechanism in OSCs, traditionally believed to result from sufficient energetic offset between the polymer donor and fullerene acceptor. We propose a new mechanism, which involves the molecular electrostatic potential, to explain efficient charge separation in non-fullerene OSCs. Together with the new mechanism, we demonstrate a record efficiency of -12% for systems with negligible energetic offset between donor and acceptor materials. Our analysis also rationalizes different requirement of the energetic offset between fullerene-based and non-fullerene OSCs, and paves the way for further design of OSC materials with both high photocurrent and high photovottage at the same time.

15.3% efficiency all-small-molecule organic solar cells enabled by symmetric phenyl substitution

Synergistic optimization of donor-acceptor blend morphologyis a hurdle in the path of realizing efficient non-fullerene small-molecule organic solar cells(NFSMOSCs)due to the anisotropic conjugated backbones of both donor and acceptor.Therefore,developing a facile molecular design strategy to effectively regulate the crystalline properties of photoactive materials,and thus,enable the optimization of blend morphology is of vital importance.In this study,a new donor molecule B1,comprising phenyl-substituted benzodithiophene(BDT)central unit,exhibits strong interaction with the non-fullerene acceptor BO-4 Cl in comparison with its corresponding thiophene-substituted BDT-based material,BTR.As a result,the B1 is affected and induced from an edgeon to a face-on orientation by the acceptor,while the BTR and the acceptor behave individually for the similar molecular orientation in pristine and blend films according to grazing incidence wide angle X-ray scattering results.It means the donor-acceptor blend morphology is synergistically optimized in the B1 system,and the B1:BO-4 Cl-based devices achieve an outstanding power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 15.3%,further certified to be 15.1%by the National Institute of Metrology,China.Our results demonstrate a simple and effective strategy to improve the crystalline properties of the donor molecule as well as synergistically optimize the morphology of the all-small-molecule system,leading to the high-performance NFSM-OSCs.

A ternary organic solar cell with 300 nm thick active layer shows over 14% efficiency

In order to meet the requirements for making organic solar cells(OSCs)through solution printing techniques,great efforts have been devoted into developing high performance OSCs with relatively thicker active layers.In this work,a thick-film(300 nm)ternary OSC with a power conversion efficiency of 14.3%is fabricated by introducing phenyl-C61-butyric-acid-methyl ester(PC61BM)into a PBDB-T-2Cl:BTP-4 F host blend.The addition of PC61BM is found to be helpful for improving the hole and electron mobilities,and thus facilitates charge transport as well as suppresses charge recombination in the active layers,leading to the improved efficiencies of OSCs with relatively thicker active layers.Our results demonstrate the feasibility of employing fullerene derivative PC61BM to construct a high-efficiency thick-film ternary device,which would promote the development of thick layer ternary OSCs to fulfill the requirements of future roll to roll production.

Solution-Processed Silver Nanowire as Flexible Transparent Electrodes in Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells(OSCs)have attracted much attention due to their advantages in fabricating flexible and semi-transparent devices.Especially,the light weight,flexibility and spectral adjustability make OSCs superior to silicon,perovskite and other thin film based solar cells in applications of integrated photovoltaic devices and wearable electronics.In flexible and semi-transparent OSCs,transparent conducting electrodes(TCEs)play a key role in obtaining high performances.Among various TCEs,silver1 n anowire(AgNW)has become a promisi ng can didate due to its low sheet resistance,high optical transparency,excellent mechanical flexibility and solution processability.In this article,we review the recent advances in AgNW-based TCEs and their applications in the field of OSCs.Firstly,we introduce the general properties of AgNW including optoelectronic and mechanical characteristics.Secondly,the preparation methods of AgNW are discussed,along with some approaches on the optimization of AgNW to overcome the shortcomings of TCEs.Thirdly,we discuss the applications of AgNW as TCEs in fabricating flexible and semi-transparent OSCs,including the use of AgNW as bottom and top electrodes.Finally,we point out the challenges in AgNW-based TCEs and suggest several guidelines for preparing AgNW so as to meet the demands for the practical use of OSCs.

Highly Stable Organic Solar Cells Based on an Ultraviolet-Resistant Cathode Interfacial Layer

Although the photovoltaic efficiency of organic solar cells(OSCs)has exceeded 17%,poor lifetime excludes OSCs from practical use.In particular,UV rays in sunlight may cause the decomposition of organic photovoltaic materials,which has been proved to be the main reason for the efficiency decay.At present,there is still no effective approach to substantially improve the device stability.Herein,we fabricate a highly efficient OSC with exceptional stability under sunlight illumination by incorporating a UV-resistant cathode interlayer(CIL),namely(sulfobetaine-N,Ndimethylamino)propyl naphthalene diimide(NDI-B).NDI-B was designed and synthesized based on the naphthalene diimide(NDI)unit,thereby exhibiting excellent capability of electron collection.Moreover,NDI-B shows strong absorption in the UV region and has good UV resistance.Devices using NDI-B as a CIL exhibited a photovoltaic efficiency of 17.2%,representing the state-of-the-art photovoltaic performance of OSCs.Notably,the NDI-B-modified OSC exhibited a T80 of over 1800 h under full-sun AM 1.5 G illumination(100 mW cm^(−2)),which represents the best stability for OSCs.We demonstrate that the unique ability of the NDI-B interlayer to convert UV light to an additional photocurrent can effectively protect photovoltaic materials from UV-induced decomposition,which is the key to obtain high OSC stability under operational conditions.