Fused thienobenzene-thienothiophene electron acceptors for organic solar cells

Small molecule ladder-type heteroarenes IHBT-2F is designed and synthesized with strong electrondonating and molecular packing properties, where the central unit, fused thienobenzene-thienothiphene (IHBT), is attached with the strong electron-deficient 2-(5,6-difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene)malononitrile (2FIC) as the end group. The counterpart IDBT-2F with indancenodibenzothiophene (IDBT) mainchain is sythesized for comparison, in which thieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT) core of IHBT is replaced by benzene core. Relative to benzene-core IDBT-2F, TT-core IHBT-2F shows a much higher highest occupied molecular orbital energy level (IHBT-2F:-5.46 eV;IDBT-2F:-5.72 eV) and significantly redshifted absorption, due to the π-donor capability of the sulfur atom, the larger π-conjugation and stronger intermolecular π-π stacking. The as-cast organic solar cells (OSCs) based on blends of PTB7-Th donor and IHBT-2F acceptor without additional treatments exhibit power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) as high as 8.74%, which is much higher than that of PTB7-Th:IDBT-2F (6.73%).

Revealing the Unusual Efficiency Enhancement of Organic Solar Cells with Polymer-Donor-Treated Cathode Contacts

The metal oxides with low trap density of states as the electron transport layer are crucial for the high performance of the organic solar cells(OSCs).It is universally acknowledged that modifying n-type metal oxide contacts with polymer donors will harm the carrier extraction on account of the mismatched energy level.However,we find that modifying interlayer consisting of the alcohol amines with some polymer donor additive can unusually enhance the performance of the OSCs.Compared with triethanolamine(TEA)passivated ZnO,TEA:polymer donor treated ZnO shows lower trap density and enhances electron mobility resulting in higher current density in OSC devices.Here,we reveal that the enhanced oxygen-defect passivation ability of TEA with polymer additive is attributed to the enhanced negative electrostatic potential of TEA owing to the hydrogen bond formation between the polymer and the hydroxyl group in TEA.This strategy that enhancing the negative electrostatic potential of the passivators for improving oxygen defect passivation can be extended to other types of organic electronic devices.

Thick Active-Layer Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells(OSCs)present a promising renewable energy technology due to their cost-effectiveness,adaptability,and lightweight nature.The advent of non-fullerene acceptors has further boosted their significance,allowing for power conversion efficiencies surpassing 19%even with an active layer thickness of about 100 nm.However,in order to achieve large scale production,it is necessary to fabricate OSCs with thicker active layers exceeding 300 nm that are compatible with large-area printing techniques.Nevertheless,OSCs with thick active layers have inferior performance compared to those with thin active layers.To expedite the transition of OSCs from laboratory to industrial high-throughput manufacturing,considerable efforts have been made to comprehend the performance limitations of thick active-layer OSCs,develop novel photoactive materials that are high-performance and tolerant towards the thickness of the active layer,and optimize the morphology of the photoactive layer and device structure.This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of the mechanisms that lead to efficiency loss in thick active-layer OSCs,the representative works on molecular design,and the optimization strategies for high-performance thick active-layer OSCs,and the remaining challenges that must be addressed.

Exciton diffusion and dissociation in organic and quantum-dot solar cells

For the process of photovoltaic conversion in organic solar cells(OSCs)and quantum-dot solar cells(QDSCs),three of four steps are determined by exciton behavior,namely,exciton generation,exciton diffusion,and exciton dissociation.Therefore,it is of great importance to regulate exciton behavior in OSCs and QDSCs for achieving high power conversion efficiency.Due to the rapid development in materials and device fabrication,great progress has been made to manage the exciton behavior to achieve prolonged exciton diffusion length and improved exciton dissociation in recent years.In this review,we first introduce the parameters that affect exciton behavior,followed by the methods to measure exciton diffusion length.Then,we provide an overview of the recent advances with regard to exciton behavior investigation in OSCs and QDSCs,including exciton lifetime,exciton diffusion coefficient,and exciton dissociation.Finally,we propose future directions in deepening the understanding of exciton behavior and boosting the performance of OSCs and QDSCs.

Enhancing Photovoltaic Performance of Asymmetric Fused-Ring Electron Acceptor by Expanding Pyrrole to Pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole

We propose a strategy to improve performance of unidirectionally extended fused-ring electron acceptors by using pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole to replace pyrrole ring, and design two asymmetric nonfullerene acceptors 1PIC and 2PIC. Replacing pyrrole in 1PIC with pyrrolo[3,2-b]pyrrole remarkably red-shifts absorption peak by 109 nm, elevates the HOMO and LUMO energy levels, and improves electron mobility. The photovoltaic devices based on blend of PM6 donor and 2PIC acceptor exhibit power conversion efficiency as high as 12.6%, which is much higher than that of PM6:1PIC (3.53%), due to more efficient exciton generation and dissociation, faster and more balanced carrier transport and less charge recombination.

Fine-Tuning Contact via Complexation for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells

For organic optoelectronic devices,precise tuning of the electrical property of both active layers and interfaces is crucial to achieve enhanced device performance.Herein,we developed a facile method using complexation to modify the work function and energy levels of cathode contact layers in organic solar cells(OSCs)to achieve suitable work function and energy levels while retaining relatively good conductivity.Compared with the control devices with neat(N,Ndimethyl-ammonium N-oxide)propyl perylene diimide(PDINO)contacts,the tris(pentafluorophenyl)borane(BCF)-complexed PDINO cathode contacts showed enhanced power conversion efficiencies(PCEs),which is independent of the composition of the active layer.More specifically,single-junction OSCs employing PDINO cathode contact with 2 wt%BCF-additive achieved an average PCE of 17.7%.Based on experimental data and theoretical modeling,we found that the boron cores of BCF coordinate with the amino N-oxide terminal substituent of PDINO after generating BCF–H2O/methanol complexes.BCF segments with a strong electron-withdrawing property can effectively reduce the energy levels of the PDINO–BCF complex,and thus enhance device PCE when it is used as a cathode contact in OSCs.This strategy can be extended to other types of photovoltaic devices,photodetectors,and light-emitting diodes.

Enhancing photovoltaic performance via aggregation dynamics control in fused-ring electron acceptor

A new fused-ring electron acceptor FNIC3 with dynamics controlled aggregation behavior was synthesized.FNIC3 shows strong absorption in 600–900 nm,HOMO/LUMO energy levels of−5.59/−4.04 eV,and electron mobility of 1.2×10^(−3) cm^(2) V^(−1) s^(−1).The aggregation of FNIC3 shows strong dependency on film formation time.Prolongation of film formation time promotes the crystallization of FNIC3,leading to improved crystallinity and enlarged aggregate sizes.Aggregation of FNIC3 significantly influences the photovoltaic device parameters.Appropriate aggregation red-shifts the absorption and improves the mobilities of the blend,which contributes to high photocurrent and fill factor thus high power conversion efficiency(PCE).Overaggregation leads to increased nonradiative energy loss and insufficient charge generation,resulting in decreased open-circuit voltage and short-circuit current density.The blends based on PM6:FNIC3 fabricated under proper film formation time exhibit a PCE of 12.3%,higher than those fabricated under short and long film formation time(10.0–10.5%).

Effects of Thieno[3,2-b]thiophene Number on Narrow-Bandgap Fused-Ring Electron Acceptors

We synthesize and compare four near-infrared absorbing fused-ring electron acceptors named as nTTIC(n=2,3,4,and 5),based on different number of thieno[3,2-b]thiophene(TT)unit as the electron-donating core.With increasing the TT unit,absorption spectrum of the TTIC series red shifts,and the highest occupied molecular orbital(HOMO)upshifts notably.It is worth noting that 4TTIC and 5TTIC exhibit absorption edges approaching 1100 nm,which is the photoresponse limit of solar cells based on crystal silicon.When the TTIC series acceptors are blended with polymer donor PM6,the binary-blend organic solar cells based on 3TTIC show the best power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 13.1%.In contrast,2TTIC-based devices exhibit relatively lower PCE of 8.32%,mainly caused by the larger energy loss and blue-shifted absorption.Due to insufficient driving force of charge separation caused by very high HOMO,4TTIC and 5TTIC show poor PCEs lower than 3%.