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Title: Carrier Transport and Recombination in Efficient “All-Small-Molecule” Solar Cells with the Nonfullerene Acceptor IDTBR

Journal Article · · Advanced Energy Materials
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  1. KAUST Solar Center (KSC), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia). Physical Sciences and Engineering Division
  2. Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Electrical Engineering Dept.; SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource
  3. King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia). Imaging and Characterization Core Lab.
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States). Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource

Abstract Reaching device efficiencies that can rival those of polymer‐fullerene Bulk Heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells (>10%) remains challenging with the “All‐Small‐Molecule” (All‐SM) approach, in part because of (i) the morphological limitations that prevail in the absence of polymer and (ii) the difficulty to raise and balance out carrier mobilities across the active layer. In this report, the authors show that blends of the SM donor DR3TBDTT (DR3) and the nonfullerene SM acceptor O‐IDTBR are conducive to “All‐SM” BHJ solar cells with high open‐circuit voltages ( V OC ) >1.1 V and PCEs as high as 6.4% (avg. 6.1%) when the active layers are subjected to a post‐processing solvent vapor‐annealing (SVA) step with dimethyl disulfide (DMDS). Combining electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) analyses and systematic carrier recombination examinations, the authors show that SVA treatments with DMDS play a determining role in improving charge transport and reducing non‐geminate recombination for the DR3:O‐IDTBR system. Correlating the experimental results and device simulations, it is found that substantially higher BHJ solar cell efficiencies of >12% can be achieved if the IQE and carrier mobilities of the active layer are increased to >85% and >10 −4 cm 2 V −1 s −1 , respectively, while suppressing the recombination rate constant k to <10 −12 cm 3 s −1 .

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); KAUST Solar Center (KSC), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia); King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal (Saudi Arabia)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); King Abdullah Univ. of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) (Saudi Arabia)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; CRG_R2_13_BEAU_KAUST_1; DE‐AC02‐76SF00515
OSTI ID:
1462359
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1431141
Journal Information:
Advanced Energy Materials, Vol. 8, Issue 19; ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
WileyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 63 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Over 12% Efficiency Nonfullerene All‐Small‐Molecule Organic Solar Cells with Sequentially Evolved Multilength Scale Morphologies journal January 2019
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Impact of Nonfullerene Acceptor Side Chain Variation on Transistor Mobility journal July 2019
Absence of Charge Transfer State Enables Very Low V OC Losses in SWCNT:Fullerene Solar Cells journal November 2018
Intermolecular Exchange Boosts Efficiency of Air-Stable, Carbon-Based All-Inorganic Planar CsPbIBr 2 Perovskite Solar Cells to Over 9% journal September 2018
Higher Mobility and Carrier Lifetimes in Solution-Processable Small-Molecule Ternary Solar Cells with 11% Efficiency journal December 2018
Impact of Fullerene on the Photophysics of Ternary Small Molecule Organic Solar Cells journal July 2019
13.34 % Efficiency Non‐Fullerene All‐Small‐Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Modulating the Crystallinity of Donors via a Fluorination Strategy journal January 2020
13.34 % Efficiency Non‐Fullerene All‐Small‐Molecule Organic Solar Cells Enabled by Modulating the Crystallinity of Donors via a Fluorination Strategy journal February 2020
Additive‐Free Non‐Fullerene Organic Solar Cells journal October 2019
Improving Molecular Planarity by Changing Alky Chain Position Enables 12.3% Efficiency All‐Small‐Molecule Organic Solar Cells with Enhanced Carrier Lifetime and Reduced Recombination journal October 2019
Terminal group engineering for small-molecule donors boosts the performance of nonfullerene organic solar cells journal January 2019
A universal solution processed interfacial bilayer enabling ohmic contact in organic and hybrid optoelectronic devices journal January 2020
Blade coated P3HT:non-fullerene acceptor solar cells: a high-throughput parameter study with a focus on up-scalability journal January 2019
Impact of Fullerene on the Photophysics of Ternary Small Molecule Organic Solar Cells conference July 2019
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