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Title: Overcoming the trade-off between Voc and Jsc: Asymmetric chloro-substituted two-dimensional benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-based polymer solar cells

Journal Article · · Dyes and Pigments
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [5];  [2]
  1. Peking University, Shenzhen (China)
  2. Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen (China)
  3. The University of Chicago, IL (United States)
  4. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States); The University of Chicago, IL (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

To achieve the high PCE and simultaneously overcome the trade-off between open circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current density (J(sc), the reasonable design of the donor material is still a great challenge in nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this paper, a pair of asymmetric 2D BDT-based wide band gap polymers, named PBPTBz-1C1 and PRPTBz-2C1, respectively, were designed and synthesized through simultaneously introducing a chloro-substituted thiophene and another alkoxylphenyl groups as side chains onto the same BDT unit. As expected, the polymers PBPTBz-1C1 and PBPTBz-2C1 exhibit the deeper HOMO levels of - 5.32 and - 5.41 eV, respectively, compared with the HOMO value of - 5.27 eV for chlorine -free substituted polymer PBPTBz-OCI. Therefore, the PBPTBz-2Cl:IT-M based PSCs exhibited a higher Voc of 0.99 V, with an enhanced Jsc of 14.92 mA cm-2 and PCE of 7.18%. The Voc, Jsc and PCE were simultaneously enhanced from PEPTBz-OCLIT-M to PBPTBz-1C1:IT-M, then to PBPTBz-2C1:1T-M based PSCs successively. These results demonstrate that the challenge of the trade-off between Voc and Jsc could be overcome through the asymmetric strategy of the chlorosubstituted thiophene and alkylphenyl groups as different side chains onto the same BDT unit. Hence, considering the low cost of starting materials and convenient introduction of chlorine atoms, the asymmetric chlorination of the side chain of BDT unit would be the great potential for achieving the high-performance PSCs.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1493727
Journal Information:
Dyes and Pigments, Vol. 162, Issue C; ISSN 0143-7208
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 18 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (4)

Halogenation on benzo[1,2- b :4,5- b ′]difuran polymers for solvent additive-free non-fullerene polymer solar cells with efficiency exceeding 11% journal January 2020
Design Principles and Synergistic Effects of Chlorination on a Conjugated Backbone for Efficient Organic Photovoltaics: A Critical Review journal February 2020
Carbon–oxygen-bridged hexacyclic non-fullerene acceptors with chlorinated end groups journal January 2019
A Benzo[1,2‐ b :4,5‐ c ′]Dithiophene‐4,8‐Dione‐Based Polymer Donor Achieving an Efficiency Over 16% journal January 2020

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Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
14 SOLAR ENERGY
asymmetric chloro-substitution
low photon energy loss
polymer solar cells
side-chain engineering