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Title: Understanding the Interplay of Transport-Morphology-Performance in PBDB-T Based Polymer Solar Cells

Abstract

Polymer-polymer blends have been reported to show exceptional thermal and ambient stability. However, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) from devices using polymeric acceptors have been recorded to be significantly lower than those based on conjugated molecular acceptors. Here, two organic nonfullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blends ITIC:PBDB-T and N2200:PBDB-T, together with their fullerene counterpart, PCBM:PBDB-T, are adopted to understand the effect of electron acceptors on device performance. We comprehensively investigate free charge carrier properties using time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements. The nonfullerene devices show an improved PCE of 10.06% and 6.65% in the ITIC and N2200 based cells, respectively. In comparison, the PCBM: PBDB-T based devices yielded a PCE of 5.88%. The optimal N2200: PBDB-T produced the highest TRMC mobility, longest lifetime, and greatest free carrier diffusion length. We found that such phenomena can be associated with the unfavorable morphology of the all-polymer BHJ microstructure. In contrast, the solar cell using either the PCBM or ITIC acceptors display a more balanced donor and acceptor phase separation, leading to more efficient free carrier separation and transport in an operating device. Sacrificing efficiency for superior stability, we show that the improved structure in all-polymer blend could deliver a more stable morphology under thermal stress.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [1];  [1];  [1]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Soochow Univ., Suzhou (China)
  2. National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  4. Univ. of Yangon (Myanmar)
  5. King Mongkut's Univ. of Technology Thonburi, Bangkok (Thailand)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Solar Energy Technologies Office
OSTI Identifier:
1593692
Report Number(s):
NREL/JA-5900-75202
Journal ID: ISSN 2367-198X; MainId:16692;UUID:637bfb9b-99ef-e911-9c29-ac162d87dfe5;MainAdminID:5170
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC36-08GO28308
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Solar RRL
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 4; Journal ID: ISSN 2367-198X
Publisher:
Wiley
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
14 SOLAR ENERGY; 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; free carrier mobility; nonfullerene acceptor; polymer solar cells; stability; time-resolved microwave conductivity; TRMC

Citation Formats

Zhang, Qilin, Yuan, Xin, Feng, Yifeng, Larson, Bryon W., Su, Gregory M., Maung, Yin Maung, Rujisamphan, Nopporn, Li, Youyong, Yuan, Jianyu, and Ma, Wanli. Understanding the Interplay of Transport-Morphology-Performance in PBDB-T Based Polymer Solar Cells. United States: N. p., 2020. Web. doi:10.1002/solr.201900524.
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Zhang, Qilin, Yuan, Xin, Feng, Yifeng, Larson, Bryon W., Su, Gregory M., Maung, Yin Maung, Rujisamphan, Nopporn, Li, Youyong, Yuan, Jianyu, & Ma, Wanli. Understanding the Interplay of Transport-Morphology-Performance in PBDB-T Based Polymer Solar Cells. United States. doi:10.1002/solr.201900524.
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Zhang, Qilin, Yuan, Xin, Feng, Yifeng, Larson, Bryon W., Su, Gregory M., Maung, Yin Maung, Rujisamphan, Nopporn, Li, Youyong, Yuan, Jianyu, and Ma, Wanli. Thu . "Understanding the Interplay of Transport-Morphology-Performance in PBDB-T Based Polymer Solar Cells". United States. doi:10.1002/solr.201900524. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1593692.
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@article{osti_1593692,
title = {Understanding the Interplay of Transport-Morphology-Performance in PBDB-T Based Polymer Solar Cells},
author = {Zhang, Qilin and Yuan, Xin and Feng, Yifeng and Larson, Bryon W. and Su, Gregory M. and Maung, Yin Maung and Rujisamphan, Nopporn and Li, Youyong and Yuan, Jianyu and Ma, Wanli},
abstractNote = {Polymer-polymer blends have been reported to show exceptional thermal and ambient stability. However, power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) from devices using polymeric acceptors have been recorded to be significantly lower than those based on conjugated molecular acceptors. Here, two organic nonfullerene bulk heterojunction (BHJ) blends ITIC:PBDB-T and N2200:PBDB-T, together with their fullerene counterpart, PCBM:PBDB-T, are adopted to understand the effect of electron acceptors on device performance. We comprehensively investigate free charge carrier properties using time-resolved microwave conductivity (TRMC) measurements. The nonfullerene devices show an improved PCE of 10.06% and 6.65% in the ITIC and N2200 based cells, respectively. In comparison, the PCBM: PBDB-T based devices yielded a PCE of 5.88%. The optimal N2200: PBDB-T produced the highest TRMC mobility, longest lifetime, and greatest free carrier diffusion length. We found that such phenomena can be associated with the unfavorable morphology of the all-polymer BHJ microstructure. In contrast, the solar cell using either the PCBM or ITIC acceptors display a more balanced donor and acceptor phase separation, leading to more efficient free carrier separation and transport in an operating device. Sacrificing efficiency for superior stability, we show that the improved structure in all-polymer blend could deliver a more stable morphology under thermal stress.},
doi = {10.1002/solr.201900524},
journal = {Solar RRL},
number = 4,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {2020},
month = {1}
}
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DOI:  10.1002/solr.201900524
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