Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Developing Benzodithiophene-Free donor polymer for 19.36% efficiency Green-Solvent-Processable organic solar cells

Journal Article · · Chemical Engineering Journal
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1]
  1. Sichuan Univ., Chengdu (China)
  2. Chengdu University of Technology (China)
  3. Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). National Synchrotron Light Source II (NSLS-II)

Here, in this work, a newly benzodithiophene-free D-A polymer donor, named PDTP-BDD, was developed for realizing green-solvent processed high-performance OSCs. By bridging two electron-rich unit of dithieno[3,2-b:2',3'-d]pyridin-5(4H)-one (DTP) and electron-deficient benzo[1,2-c:4,5c']dithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) with thiophene units, PDTP-BDD possesses high absorption in the short wavelength range and a deep HOMO energy level. The rigid building blocks also make PDTP-BDD has strong aggregation and poor solubility in common halogen-free solvents (such as o-xylene) at room temperature, but it is readily dissolved and disaggregated at high temperature (120 °C). After cooling down to a lower temperature (60 °C), PDTP-BDD self-assembled and pre-aggregated slowly in the solution at a long time. By employing a delayed processing strategy in the layer-by-layer processed OSCs (LbL-OSCs), an optimized fibril network of the underling layer was realized, enabling the permeation of acceptor into the donor network. The optimized PDTP-BDD/L8-BO-based LbL-OSCs realized a high PCE of 18.42 %. By adding a small amount of D18 to further optimize the PDTP-BDD fibril network, an impressive PCE of 19.36 % was achieved finally in the resulting ternary LbL-OSCs, which is the highest value for OSCs processed by halogen-free solvents.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
2440571
Report Number(s):
BNL--226014-2024-JAAM
Journal Information:
Chemical Engineering Journal, Journal Name: Chemical Engineering Journal Vol. 490; ISSN 1385-8947
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (35)

All‐Green Solvent‐Processed Planar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells with Outstanding Power Conversion Efficiency of 16% journal October 2021
19.28% Efficiency and Stable Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by Introducing an NIR‐Absorbing Guest Acceptor journal January 2023
Developing Efficient Benzene Additives for 19.43% Efficiency of Organic Solar Cells by Crossbreeding Effect of Fluorination and Bromination journal November 2023
25th Anniversary Article: Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells: Understanding the Mechanism of Operation journal December 2013
A Large-Bandgap Conjugated Polymer for Versatile Photovoltaic Applications with High Performance journal July 2015
P3HT‐Based Polymer Solar Cells with 8.25% Efficiency Enabled by a Matched Molecular Acceptor and Smart Green‐Solvent Processing Technology journal November 2019
Ternary Blend Organic Solar Cells: Understanding the Morphology from Recent Progress journal January 2022
Realizing 19.05% Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells by Progressively Improving Charge Extraction and Suppressing Charge Recombination journal February 2022
Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar‐Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor journal July 2022
Nonhalogenated Dual‐Slot‐Die Processing Enables High‐Efficiency Organic Solar Cells journal July 2022
Binary Organic Solar Cells Breaking 19% via Manipulating the Vertical Component Distribution journal July 2022
Y‐Type Non‐Fullerene Acceptors with Outer Branched Side Chains and Inner Cyclohexane Side Chains for 19.36% Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells journal January 2023
Benzo[d]thiazole Based Wide Bandgap Donor Polymers Enable 19.54% Efficiency Organic Solar Cells Along with Desirable Batch‐to‐Batch Reproducibility and General Applicability journal March 2023
19.10% Efficiency and 80.5% Fill Factor Layer‐by‐Layer Organic Solar Cells Realized by 4‐Bis(2‐Thienyl)Pyrrole‐2,5‐Dione Based Polymer Additives for Inducing Vertical Segregation Morphology journal September 2023
19.32% Efficiency Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by Fine‐Tuning Stacking Modes of Y‐Type Molecule Acceptors: Synergistic Bromine and Fluorine Substitution of the End Groups journal December 2023
A High-Performance D-A Copolymer Based on Dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]Pyridin-5(4H)-One Unit Compatible with Fullerene and Nonfullerene Acceptors in Solar Cells journal April 2017
Morphology Control in Organic Solar Cells journal March 2018
Precise Methylation Yields Acceptor with Hydrogen‐Bonding Network for High‐Efficiency and Thermally Stable Polymer Solar Cells journal January 2024
High-performance organic photovoltaic modules using eco-friendly solvents for various indoor application scenarios journal September 2022
Recent advances in molecular design of functional conjugated polymers for high-performance polymer solar cells journal December 2019
Recent Progress in π-Conjugated Polymers for Organic Photovoltaics: Solar Cells and Photodetectors journal August 2023
18% Efficiency organic solar cells journal February 2020
Recent Progress in Chlorinated Organic Photovoltaic Materials journal March 2020
Molecular Design of Benzodithiophene-Based Organic Photovoltaic Materials journal June 2016
Efficient organic solar cells processed from hydrocarbon solvents journal January 2016
Benzodithiophenedione-based polymers: recent advances in organic photovoltaics journal January 2020
A low cost and high performance polymer donor material for polymer solar cells journal February 2018
Optimized active layer morphology toward efficient and polymer batch insensitive organic solar cells journal June 2020
Graded bulk-heterojunction enables 17% binary organic solar cells via nonhalogenated open air coating journal August 2021
Auxiliary sequential deposition enables 19%-efficiency organic solar cells processed from halogen-free solvents journal October 2023
Donor–acceptor mutually diluted heterojunctions for layer-by-layer fabrication of high-performance organic solar cells journal January 2024
Single-junction organic solar cells with over 19% efficiency enabled by a refined double-fibril network morphology journal May 2022
Low band-gap conjugated polymer based on diketopyrrolopyrrole units and its application in organic photovoltaic cells journal January 2017
Highly efficient non-fullerene organic solar cells enabled by a delayed processing method using a non-halogenated solvent journal January 2020
Advances in the device design and printing technology for eco-friendly organic photovoltaics journal January 2023

Figures / Tables (7)