| 1. |
- Zhou, Zichun, et al.
(author)
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Subtle Molecular Tailoring Induces Significant Morphology Optimization Enabling over 16% Efficiency Organic Solar Cells with Efficient Charge Generation
- 2020
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In: Advanced Materials. - : WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH. - 0935-9648 .- 1521-4095. ; 32:4
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Manipulating charge generation in a broad spectral region has proved to be crucial for nonfullerene-electron-acceptor-based organic solar cells (OSCs). 16.64% high efficiency binary OSCs are achieved through the use of a novel electron acceptor AQx-2 with quinoxaline-containing fused core and PBDB-TF as donor. The significant increase in photovoltaic performance of AQx-2 based devices is obtained merely by a subtle tailoring in molecular structure of its analogue AQx-1. Combining the detailed morphology and transient absorption spectroscopy analyses, a good structure-morphology-property relationship is established. The stronger pi-pi interaction results in efficient electron hopping and balanced electron and hole mobilities attributed to good charge transport. Moreover, the reduced phase separation morphology of AQx-2-based bulk heterojunction blend boosts hole transfer and suppresses geminate recombination. Such success in molecule design and precise morphology optimization may lead to next-generation high-performance OSCs.
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| 2. |
- He, Chengliang, et al.
(author)
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Near infrared electron acceptors with a photoresponse beyond 1000 nm for highly efficient organic solar cells
- 2020
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In: Journal of Materials Chemistry A. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 2050-7488 .- 2050-7496. ; 8:35, s. 18154-18161
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Developing near infrared (NIR) organic semiconductors is indispensable for promoting the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs), but addressing the trade-off between voltage and current density thus achieving high efficiency with low energy loss is still an urgent challenge. Herein, NIR acceptors (H1, H2 and H3) with a photoresponse beyond 1000 nm were developed by conjugating dithienopyrrolobenzothiadiazole to 2-(5,6-difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-1-ylidene)malononitrileviavaried alkyl thiophene bridges. It was found that the linear outward chains in thiophene bridges could mitigate both the conformation disorder of H3 and the electronic disorder of the PBDB-T:H3 blends, which could help to form a favorable blend morphology, facilitating highly efficient photoelectric conversion in the resultant OSCs. As a result, devices based on PBDB-T:H3 achieve a high efficiency of 13.75% with a low energy loss of 0.55 eV, which is one of the highest efficiencies and the lowest energy loss among OSCs with an optoelectronic response near 1000 nm. This work provides a new design strategy towards NIR acceptors for efficient OSCs and future exploration of functional optoelectronics.
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| 3. |
- Li, Shuixing, et al.
(author)
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Asymmetric Electron Acceptors for High-Efficiency and Low-Energy-Loss Organic Photovoltaics
- 2020
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In: Advanced Materials. - : WILEY-V C H VERLAG GMBH. - 0935-9648 .- 1521-4095. ; 32
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Low energy loss and efficient charge separation under small driving forces are the prerequisites for realizing high power conversion efficiency (PCE) in organic photovoltaics (OPVs). Here, a new molecular design of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) is proposed to address above two issues simultaneously by introducing asymmetric terminals. Two NFAs, BTP-S1 and BTP-S2, are constructed by introducing halogenated indandione (A(1)) and 3-dicyanomethylene-1-indanone (A(2)) as two different conjugated terminals on the central fused core (D), wherein they share the same backbone as well-known NFA Y6, but at different terminals. Such asymmetric NFAs with A(1)-D-A(2) structure exhibit superior photovoltaic properties when blended with polymer donor PM6. Energy loss analysis reveals that asymmetric molecule BTP-S2 with six chlorine atoms attached at the terminals enables the corresponding devices to give an outstanding electroluminescence quantum efficiency of 2.3 x 10(-2)%, one order of magnitude higher than devices based on symmetric Y6 (4.4 x 10(-3)%), thus significantly lowering the nonradiative loss and energy loss of the corresponding devices. Besides, asymmetric BTP-S1 and BTP-S2 with multiple halogen atoms at the terminals exhibit fast hole transfer to the donor PM6. As a result, OPVs based on the PM6:BTP-S2 blend realize a PCE of 16.37%, higher than that (15.79%) of PM6:Y6-based OPVs. A further optimization of the ternary blend (PM6:Y6:BTP-S2) results in a best PCE of 17.43%, which is among the highest efficiencies for single-junction OPVs. This work provides an effective approach to simultaneously lower the energy loss and promote the charge separation of OPVs by molecular design strategy.
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| 4. |
- Li, Yaokai, et al.
(author)
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Mechanism study on organic ternary photovoltaics with 18.3% certified efficiency: from molecule to device
- 2022
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In: Energy & Environmental Science. - : ROYAL SOC CHEMISTRY. - 1754-5692 .- 1754-5706. ; 15:2, s. 855-865
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Multi-component organic photovoltaics (OPVs), e.g., ternary blends, are effective for high performance, while the fundamental understanding from the molecular to device level is lacking. To address this issue, we here systematically study the working mechanism of ternary OPVs based on non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). With both molecular dynamics simulations and morphology characterization, we identify that when adding another larger band gap and highly miscible NFA, namely IT-4F or BTP-S2, into the PBDB-TF:BTP-eC9 blend, the NFAs undergo molecular intermixing selectively with BTP-eC9. This causes the composition-dependent band gap and charge recombination, and hence the composition-dependent V-OC. While the charge recombination still dominantly occurs at the PBDB-TF:BTP-eC9 interface, BTP-S2 or IT-4F plays an auxiliary role in facilitating charge transfer and suppressing non-radiative decay. Interestingly, intermolecular end-group packing in the intermixed blend is improved compared to that in pristine films, leading to higher carrier mobility. These synergistic effects significantly improve the power conversion efficiency of the device to an outstanding value of 18.7% (certified value of 18.3%).
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| 5. |
- Liao, Xunfan, et al.
(author)
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Regulating Favorable Morphology Evolution by a Simple Liquid-Crystalline Small Molecule Enables Organic Solar Cells with over 17% Efficiency and a Remarkable J(sc) of 26.56 mA/cm(2)
- 2021
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In: Chemistry of Materials. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0897-4756 .- 1520-5002. ; 33:1, s. 430-440
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Liquid crystal small molecules (LCSMs) are manifested as the effective additives to regulate the morphology of active layers and elevate the performance of ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs) in fullerene systems. However, the current studies for TOSCs based on efficient LCSMs are most out of the LC phase transition temperature, which is not conducive to accurately disclosure the effect of LCSMs on the morphology evolution. Besides, the inner working mechanism of LCSMs has not been investigated systematically and in-depth. Herein, a structurally simple donor-acceptor-donor type LCSM DFBT-TT6 with a low liquid crystal phase transition temperature is utilized as the third component to construct TOSCs based on a highly efficient nonfullerene system PM6:Y6. To unveil the work mechanism of LCSMs on the TOSCs performance and eliminate other interferences simultaneously, a structurally similar non-LCSM DFBT-DT6 with a low glass-transition temperature is further synthesized for a more clear comparison. Interestingly, the addition of DFBT-TT6 can delicately control the crystallinity and phase separation of PM6:Y6, rendering the optimized morphology with only 3 wt % DFBT-TT6. In contrast, the non-LCSM DFBT-DT6 shows a negligible effect on morphology regulation, indicating the unique ability of LC molecules in morphology control. The underlying working mechanism is revealed by the combined study of miscibility and the wetting coefficient of the blends, elucidating that the LCSM DFBT-TT6 has good compatibility with PM6 and Y6. Therefore, DFBT-TT6 is more prone to being located at the interface of PM6 and Y6, and it is energetically favorable for charge transfer. The aforementioned favorable morphology evolution is associated with improved crystallinity, phase separation, charge transfer, exciton dissociation, and collection efficiency, ultimately boosting the power conversion efficiency of TOSCs from 15.76% to 17.05% with a remarkable short-circuit current density of 26.56 mA/cm(2). This work not only offers deep insight into the LCSM induced morphology evolution but also puts forward an affordable strategy to achieve high-performance TOSCs.
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| 6. |
- Liu, Yanfeng, et al.
(author)
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Electric Field Facilitating Hole Transfer in Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells with a Negative HOMO Offset
- 2020
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In: The Journal of Physical Chemistry C. - : AMER CHEMICAL SOC. - 1932-7447 .- 1932-7455. ; 124:28, s. 15132-15139
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The record high photoinduced current and power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells (OSCs) should be attributed to the significant contribution of non-fullerene electron acceptors via hole transfer to electron donors and/or a pronounced decrease in energy losses for exciton dissociation by aligned highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) or lowest unoccupied molecular orbitals (LUMOs). However, the hole transfer mechanism in those highly efficient non-fullerene OSCs with small HOMO offsets has not been extensively studied and fully understood, yet. Herein, we comparatively study the hole transfer kinetics in two OSCs with a positive (0.05 eV) and a negative (-0.07 eV) HOMO offset (Delta HOMO) based on polymer donor PTQ10 paired with non-fullerene acceptors ZITI-C or ZITI-N. Short-circuit current densities (J(sc)) of 20.42 and 12.81 mA cm(-2) are achieved in the OSCs based on PTQ10:ZITI-C (Delta HOMO = 0.05 eV) and PTQ10:ZITI-N (Delta HOMO = -0.07 eV) with an optimized donor (D):acceptor (A) ratio of 1:1, respectively, despite the small and even negative Delta HOMO. Results from time-resolved transient absorption spectroscopy show slower hole transfer (14.3 ps) in PTQ10:ZITI-N than that (3.7 ps) in PTQ10:ZITI-C. To understand the decent J(sc) value in the OSCs of PTQ10:ZITI-N, the temperature and electric field dependences of hole transfer are investigated in low-donor-content OSCs (D:A ratio of 1:9) in which photocurrent is dominated by the contribution via hole transfer from ZITI-N to PTQ10. Devices based on PTQ10:ZITI-C and PTQ10:ZITI-N show similar free charge generation behavior as a function of temperature, whereas the external quantum efficiencies of the PTQ10:ZITI-N device exhibit a much stronger bias dependence than that of PTQ10:ZITI-C, which suggests that the electric field facilitates exciton dissociation in PTQ10:ZITI-N where the energetic driving force alone cannot efficiently dissociate excitons.
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| 7. |
- Zhang, Jianyun, et al.
(author)
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Revealing the Critical Role of the HOMO Alignment on Maximizing Current Extraction and Suppressing Energy Loss in Organic Solar Cells
- 2019
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In: iScience. - : Cell Press. - 2589-0042. ; 19, s. 883-893
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- For state-of-the-art organic solar cells (OSCs) consisting of a large-bandgap polymer donor and a near-infrared (NIR) molecular acceptor, the control of the HOMO offset is the key to simultaneously achieve small energy loss (Eloss) and high photocurrent. However, the relationship between HOMO offsets and the efficiency for hole separation is quite elusive so far, which requires a comprehensive understanding on how small the driving force can effectively perform the charge separation while obtaining a high photovoltage to ensure high OSC performance. By designing a new family of ZITI-X NIR acceptors (X = S, C, N) with a high structural similarity and matching them with polymer donor J71 forming reduced HOMO offsets, we systematically investigated and established the relationship among the photovoltaic performance, energy loss, and hole-transfer kinetics. We achieved the highest PCEavgs of 14.05 ± 0.21% in a ternary system (J71:ZITI-C:ZITI-N) that best optimize the balance between driving force and energy loss.
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