Quasi‐Homojunction Organic Nonfullerene Photovoltaics Featuring Fundamentals Distinct from Bulk Heterojunctions

Wang, Yifan; Price, Michael B.; Bobba, Raja Sekhar; Lu, Heng; Xue, Jingwei; Wang, Yilin; Li, Mengyang; Ilina, Aleksandra; Hume, Paul A.; Jia, Boyu; Li, Tengfei; Zhang, Yuchen; Davis, Nathaniel J.  L.  K.; Tang, Zheng; Ma, Wei; Qiao, Quinn; Hodgkiss, Justin M.; Zhan, Xiaowei

doi:10.1002/adma.202206717

Quasi‐Homojunction Organic Nonfullerene Photovoltaics Featuring Fundamentals Distinct from Bulk Heterojunctions

Journal Article · 07 November 2022 · Advanced Materials

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202206717· OSTI ID:2422714

Wang, Yifan ^[1]; Price, Michael B. ^[2]; Bobba, Raja Sekhar ^[3]; Lu, Heng ^[4]; Xue, Jingwei ^[5]; Wang, Yilin ^[5]; Li, Mengyang ^[6]; Ilina, Aleksandra ^[2]; Hume, Paul A. ^[2]; Jia, Boyu ^[4]; Li, Tengfei ^[4]; Zhang, Yuchen ^[3]; Davis, Nathaniel J. L. K. ^[2]; Tang, Zheng ^[6]; Ma, Wei ^[5]; Qiao, Quinn ^[3]; Hodgkiss, Justin M. ^[2]; ^[4]

College of Materials Science and Engineering Qingdao University Qingdao 266071 P. R. China; Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education School of Materials Science and Engineering Peking University Beijing 100871 P. R. China
MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology School of Chemical and Physical Sciences Victoria University of Wellington Wellington 6010 New Zealand
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Syracuse University Syracuse NY 13244 USA
Key Laboratory of Polymer Chemistry and Physics of Ministry of Education School of Materials Science and Engineering Peking University Beijing 100871 P. R. China
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials Xi'an Jiaotong University Xi'an 710049 P. R. China
Center for Advanced Low‐Dimension Materials State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials College of Materials Science and Engineering Donghua University Shanghai 201620 P. R. China

Abstract

In contrast to classical bulk heterojunction (BHJ) in organic solar cells (OSCs), the quasi‐homojunction (QHJ) with extremely low donor content (≤10 wt.%) is unusual and generally yields much lower device efficiency. Here, representative polymer donors and nonfullerene acceptors are selected to fabricate QHJ OSCs, and a complete picture for the operation mechanisms of high‐efficiency QHJ devices is illustrated. PTB7‐Th:Y6 QHJ devices at donor:acceptor (D:A) ratios of 1:8 or 1:20 can achieve 95% or 64% of the efficiency obtained from its BHJ counterpart at the optimal D:A ratio of 1:1.2, respectively, whereas QHJ devices with other donors or acceptors suffer from rapid roll‐off of efficiency when the donors are diluted. Through device physics and photophysics analyses, it is observed that a large portion of free charges can be intrinsically generated in the neat Y6 domains rather than at the D/A interface. Y6 also serves as an ambipolar transport channel, so that hole transport as also mainly through Y6 phase. The key role of PTB7‐Th is primarily to reduce charge recombination, likely assisted by enhancing quadrupolar fields within Y6 itself, rather than the previously thought principal roles of light absorption, exciton splitting, and hole transport.

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Advanced Light Source (ALS)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

DOE Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2422714

Journal Information:: Advanced Materials, Journal Name: Advanced Materials Journal Issue: 50 Vol. 34; ISSN 0935-9648

Publisher:: Wiley

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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