Substitution Effect on Thiobarbituric Acid End Groups for High Open-Circuit Voltage Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

Xiao, Liangang; Kolaczkowski, Matthew A.; Min, Yonggang; Liu, Yi

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c11828

Substitution Effect on Thiobarbituric Acid End Groups for High Open-Circuit Voltage Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

Journal Article · Wed Aug 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.0c11828· OSTI ID:1661611

^[1]; Kolaczkowski, Matthew A. ^[2]; ^[1]; ^[3]

Guangdong Univ. of Technology, Guangzhou (China)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). The Molecular Foundry (TMF); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). The Molecular Foundry (TMF)

Recent advances in non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) have resulted in significant improvement in the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of organic solar cells (OSCs). In our efforts to boost open-circuit voltage (V_OC) for OSCs, the molecular design employing thiobarbituric acid (TBTA) end groups and an indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene (IDTT) core gives rise to NFAs with significantly raised lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level, which, when paired with PCE10, can achieve V_OC's over 1.0 V and decent PCEs that outperform the equivalent devices based on the benchmark ITIC acceptor. While the use of a TBTA end group is effective in tuning energy levels, very little is known about how the alkyl substitution on the TBTA group impacts the solar cell performance. To this end, TBTA end groups are alkylated with linear, branched, and aromatic sidechains to understand the influence on thin-film morphology and related device performances. We report our study has confirmed the dependence of solar cell performance on the end-group substituents. More importantly, we reveal the presence of an ideal window of crystallinity associated with the medium-length hydrocarbon chains such as ethyl and benzyl. Deviation to the shorter methyl group makes the acceptor too crystalline to mix with the polymer donor and form proper domains, whereas longer and branched alkyl chains are too sterically bulky and hinder charge transport due to nonideal packing. Such findings underline the comprehensive nature of thin-film morphology and the subtle end-group effects for the design of non-fullerene acceptors.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). The Molecular Foundry (TMF) and Advanced Light Source (ALS)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1661611

Journal Information:: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Journal Name: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces Journal Issue: 37 Vol. 12; ISSN 1944-8244

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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14 SOLAR ENERGY
non-fullerene acceptors
sidechains
solar cells
thiobarbituric acid
window of crystallinity

Substitution Effect on Thiobarbituric Acid End Groups for High Open-Circuit Voltage Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

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References (52)

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