Tethered Small-Molecule Acceptor Refines Hierarchical Morphology in Ternary Polymer Solar Cells: Enhanced Stability and 19% Efficiency

• Polymer solar cells (PSCs) are promising for efficient solar energy conversion, but achieving high efficiency and device longevity within a bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) structure remains a challenge. Traditional small-molecule acceptors (SMAs) in the BHJ blend show thermodynamic instability affecting the morphology. In contrast, tethered SMAs exhibit higher glass transition temperatures, mitigating these concerns. Yet, they might not integrate well with polymer donors, causing pronounced phase separation and overpurification of mixed domains. Herein, a novel ternary device is introduced that uses DY-P2EH, a tethered dimeric SMA with conjugated side-chains as host acceptor, and BTP-ec9, a monomeric SMA as secondary acceptor, which respectively possess hypomiscibility and hypermiscibility with the polymer donor PM6. This unique combination affords a parallel-connected ternary BHJ blend, leading to a hierarchical and stable morphology. The ternary device achieves a remarkable fill factor of 80.61% and an impressive power conversion efficiency of 19.09%. Furthermore, the ternary device exhibits exceptional stability, retaining over 85% of its initial efficiency even after enduring 1100 h of thermal stress at 85 degrees C. These findings highlight the potential advantage of tethered SMAs in the design of ternary devices with a refined hierarchical structure for more efficient and durable solar energy conversion technologies. A ternary-device design is proposed that fully utilizes the individual thermodynamic properties of both dimeric acceptor and monomeric acceptor. The high Tg value of dimeric acceptor significantly impedes the molecular movement of monomeric acceptor, while hypermiscible properties of monomeric acceptor promote percolation of the mixed domain for enhancing charge dynamics.image

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Kemi -- Polymerkemi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Chemical Sciences -- Polymer Chemistry (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

durable device; hierarchical morphologies; high efficiency; ternary polymer solar cells; tethered small-molecule acceptors

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