Molecular dispersion enhances photovoltaic efficiency and thermal stability in quasi-bilayer organic solar cells

In comparison to widely adopted bulk heterojunction(BHJ)structures for organic solar cells(OSC),exploiting the sequential deposition to form planar heterojunction(PHJ)structures enables to realize the favorable vertical phase separation to facilitate charge extraction and reduce charge recombination in OSCs.However,effective tunings on the power conversion efficiency(PCE)in PHJ-OSCs are still restrained by the currently available methods.Based on a polymeric donor PBDBT-2 F(PBDBT=Poly[[4,8-bis[5-(2-ethylhexyl)-4-fluoro-2-thienyl]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl[5,7-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4,8-dioxo-4 H,8 H-benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c′]dithiophene-1,3-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl])and a non-fullerene(NF)acceptor Y6,we proposed a strategy to improve the properties of photovoltaic performances in PHJ-based OSCs through dilute dispersions of the PBDBT-2 F donor into the acceptor-dominant phase with the sequential film deposition.With the control of donor dispersions,the charge transport balance in the PHJ-OSCs is improved,leading to the expedited photocarrier sweep-out with reduced bimolecular charge recombination.As a result,a PCE of 15.4%is achieved in the PHJ-OSCs.Importantly,the PHJ solar cells with donor dispersions exhibit better thermal stability than corresponding BHJ devices,which is related to the better film morphology robustness and less affected charge sweep-out during the thermal aging.

On the Understandings of Dielectric Constant and Its Impacts on the Photovoltaic Efficiency in Organic Solar Cells

Dielectric constant(ε)is an important parameter affecting the power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells(OSC).Increasingεof bulk heterojunctions in general can benefit the performance of OSCs,as an increasedεwill reduce the influence of Coulomb interaction between weakly bound electron-hole pairs on charge-transfer states or bimolecular recombination involving mobile carriers to reduce geminate and nongeminate losses.In this review,we overview the current understandings on dielectric constant and its impacts on exciton dissociation and voltage losses in OSCs and summarize recent efforts attempting to modify the dielectric properties of OSC materials through synthetic approaches.We further discuss the commonly adopted techniques for determining the parameter ofεwith stressing the testing conditions that may affect the accuracy of results.At last,we suggest that novel experimental methods to improve the dielectric constant and resultant physical processes in OSCs will be appreciated,which helps enrich the existing strategy reservoir toward enhancement of photovoltaic efficiencies.