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Title: Thiophene Rings Improve the Device Performance of Conjugated Polymers in Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layers

Abstract

Abstract Developing novel materials that tolerate thickness variations of the active layer is critical to further enhance the efficiency of polymer solar cells and enable large‐scale manufacturing. Presently, only a few polymers afford high efficiencies at active layer thickness exceeding 200 nm and molecular design guidelines for developing successful materials are lacking. It is thus highly desirable to identify structural factors that determine the performance of semiconducting conjugated polymers in thick‐film polymer solar cells. Here, it is demonstrated that thiophene rings, introduced in the backbone of alternating donor–acceptor type conjugated polymers, enhance the fill factor and overall efficiency for thick (>200 nm) solar cells. For a series of fluorinated semiconducting polymers derived from electron‐rich benzo[1,2‐ b :4,5‐ b′ ]dithiophene units and electron‐deficient 5,6‐difluorobenzo[2,1,3]thiazole units a steady increase of the fill factor and power conversion efficiency is found when introducing thiophene rings between the donor and acceptor units. The increased performance is a synergistic result of an enhanced hole mobility and a suppressed bimolecular charge recombination, which is attributed to more favorable polymer chain packing and finer phase separation.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [3]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Molecular Materials and Nanosystems Institute for Complex Molecular Systems Eindhoven University of Technology P. O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands
  2. Department of Physics and Astronomy and Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA) Shanghai Jiaotong University Shanghai 200240 P. R. China
  3. Molecular Materials and Nanosystems Institute for Complex Molecular Systems Eindhoven University of Technology P. O. Box 513 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands, Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research De Zaale, 20 5612 AJ Eindhoven The Netherlands
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1368589
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1368590
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Advanced Energy Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Advanced Energy Materials Journal Volume: 7 Journal Issue: 19; Journal ID: ISSN 1614-6832
Publisher:
Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
Country of Publication:
Germany
Language:
English

Citation Formats

Duan, Chunhui, Gao, Ke, Colberts, Fallon J. M., Liu, Feng, Meskers, Stefan C. J., Wienk, Martijn M., and Janssen, René A. J. Thiophene Rings Improve the Device Performance of Conjugated Polymers in Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layers. Germany: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1002/aenm.201700519.
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Duan, Chunhui, Gao, Ke, Colberts, Fallon J. M., Liu, Feng, Meskers, Stefan C. J., Wienk, Martijn M., & Janssen, René A. J. Thiophene Rings Improve the Device Performance of Conjugated Polymers in Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layers. Germany. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700519
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Duan, Chunhui, Gao, Ke, Colberts, Fallon J. M., Liu, Feng, Meskers, Stefan C. J., Wienk, Martijn M., and Janssen, René A. J. Mon . "Thiophene Rings Improve the Device Performance of Conjugated Polymers in Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layers". Germany. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700519.
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@article{osti_1368589,
title = {Thiophene Rings Improve the Device Performance of Conjugated Polymers in Polymer Solar Cells with Thick Active Layers},
author = {Duan, Chunhui and Gao, Ke and Colberts, Fallon J. M. and Liu, Feng and Meskers, Stefan C. J. and Wienk, Martijn M. and Janssen, René A. J.},
abstractNote = {Abstract Developing novel materials that tolerate thickness variations of the active layer is critical to further enhance the efficiency of polymer solar cells and enable large‐scale manufacturing. Presently, only a few polymers afford high efficiencies at active layer thickness exceeding 200 nm and molecular design guidelines for developing successful materials are lacking. It is thus highly desirable to identify structural factors that determine the performance of semiconducting conjugated polymers in thick‐film polymer solar cells. Here, it is demonstrated that thiophene rings, introduced in the backbone of alternating donor–acceptor type conjugated polymers, enhance the fill factor and overall efficiency for thick (>200 nm) solar cells. For a series of fluorinated semiconducting polymers derived from electron‐rich benzo[1,2‐ b :4,5‐ b′ ]dithiophene units and electron‐deficient 5,6‐difluorobenzo[2,1,3]thiazole units a steady increase of the fill factor and power conversion efficiency is found when introducing thiophene rings between the donor and acceptor units. The increased performance is a synergistic result of an enhanced hole mobility and a suppressed bimolecular charge recombination, which is attributed to more favorable polymer chain packing and finer phase separation.},
doi = {10.1002/aenm.201700519},
journal = {Advanced Energy Materials},
number = 19,
volume = 7,
place = {Germany},
year = {Mon Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700519
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