Enhanced hindrance from phenyl outer side chains on nonfullerene acceptor enables unprecedented simultaneous enhancement in organic solar cell performances with 16.7% efficiency

Chai, Gaoda; Chang, Yuan; Peng, Zhengxing; Jia, Yanyan; Zou, Xinhui; Yu, Dian; Yu, Han; Chen, Yuzhong; Chow, Philip C. Y.; Wong, Kam Sing; Zhang, Jianquan; Ade, Harald; Yang, Liwei; Zhan, Chuanlang

doi:10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105087

Title: Enhanced hindrance from phenyl outer side chains on nonfullerene acceptor enables unprecedented simultaneous enhancement in organic solar cell performances with 16.7% efficiency

Journal Article · 21 June 2020 · Nano Energy

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nanoen.2020.105087 · OSTI ID:1635335

Chai, Gaoda ^[1]; Chang, Yuan ^[2];

^[3]; Jia, Yanyan ^[4]; Zou, Xinhui ^[2]; Yu, Dian ^[4]; Yu, Han ^[2]; Chen, Yuzhong ^[2]; Chow, Philip C. Y. ^[5]; Wong, Kam Sing ^[2];

^[5]; Ade, Harald ^[3]; Yang, Liwei ^[6];

^[7]

Chang'an Univ., Xi'an (China); Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China)
Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China)
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Chang'an Univ., Xi'an (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China); Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology-Shenzhen Research Inst., Shenzhen (China)
Chang'an Univ., Xi'an (China)
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Inner Mongolia Normal Univ., Huhehot (China)

Inner side-chain engineering on Y6 has been a proven successful in improving short-circuit current density (JSC) through fine-tuning aggregated structures of acceptors. However, it fails in tuning the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital level (LUMO) and open-circuit voltage (V_OC). In this paper, we turn to focus on engineering the outer side chains on the flanking thienothiophene units with 4-hexylphenyl (PhC6) and 6-phenylhexyl (C6Ph) chains. Use of PhC6 enhances the steric effect between the attached phenyl and the ending group, which in combination with the additional conjugation effect provided by the linking phenyl leads to upshifted energy levels and increased V_OC as a result. Again, substitution with the bulkier PhC6 unprecedentedly improves film-morphology with reduced paracrystalline disorder and long period and increased root-mean-square composition variations as well, leading to increased electron and hole mobilities and suppressed monomolecular recombination with J_SC and fill-factor (FF) simultaneously enhanced. The PM6:BTP-PhC6-based devices yield a higher efficiency value of 16.7% than the PM6:BTP-C6Ph-based one (15.5%). Furthermore, this study shows a conceptual advance in materials design towards reducing the conflict between V_OC and J_SC in binary blended organic solar cells, which can be achieved by introducing bulkier chains to twist the backbone and simultaneously enhance the packing order.

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Research Organization:: Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology, Hong Kong (China)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1635335

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1635438

Journal Information:: Nano Energy, Vol. 76, Issue C; ISSN 2211-2855

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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14 SOLAR ENERGY
fullerene-free
side-chain engineering
organic solar cell
isomerization
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Title: Enhanced hindrance from phenyl outer side chains on nonfullerene acceptor enables unprecedented simultaneous enhancement in organic solar cell performances with 16.7% efficiency

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