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Title: High performance tandem organic solar cells via a strongly infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor

Abstract

Tandem organic solar cells are based on the device structure monolithically connecting two solar cells to broaden overall absorption spectrum and utilize the photon energy more efficiently. Herein, we demonstrate a simple strategy of inserting a double bond between the central core and end groups of the small molecule acceptor Y6 to extend its conjugation length and absorption range. As a result, a new narrow bandgap acceptor BTPV-4F was synthesized with an optical bandgap of 1.21 eV. The single-junction devices based on BTPV-4F as acceptor achieved a power conversion efficiency of over 13.4% with a high short-circuit current density of 28.9 mA cm-2. With adopting BTPV-4F as the rear cell acceptor material, the resulting tandem devices reached a high power conversion efficiency of over 16.4% with good photostability. The results indicate that BTPV-4F is an efficient infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor and has great potential to be applied into tandem organic solar cells.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [1]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [8]
  1. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Chemistry. CAS Key Lab. of Organic Solids. Beijing National Lab. for Molecular Sciences; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). School of Chemical Science
  2. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Physics. Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories (ORaCEL)
  3. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Chemistry. CAS Key Lab. of Organic Solids. Beijing National Lab. for Molecular Sciences
  4. Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Inst. of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET); Erlangen Graduate School in Advanced Optical Technologies (SAOT), Erlangen (Germany)
  5. Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Inst. of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET); Helmholtz-Inst. Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN), Erlangen (Germany)
  6. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States). Dept. of Physics. Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories (ORaCEL)
  7. Friedrich-Alexander Univ. Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering. Inst. of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET); Helmholtz-Inst. Erlangen-Nürnberg for Renewable Energy (HI ERN), Erlangen (Germany)
  8. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Inst. of Chemistry. CAS Key Lab. of Organic Solids. Beijing National Lab. for Molecular Sciences; Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). School of Chemical Science; Soochow Univ., Taipai (Taiwan). College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science. Lab. of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials
Publication Date:
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division; National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research
OSTI Identifier:
1817063
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; 2019YFA0705900; 51820105003; 21734008; 61904181; 2019B030302007
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 42 ENGINEERING; optical materials; solar cells

Citation Formats

Jia, Zhenrong, Qin, Shucheng, Meng, Lei, Ma, Qing, Angunawela, Indunil, Zhang, Jinyuan, Li, Xiaojun, He, Yakun, Lai, Wenbin, Li, Ning, Ade, Harald, Brabec, Christoph J., and Li, Yongfang. High performance tandem organic solar cells via a strongly infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor. United States: N. p., 2021. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-20431-6.
Jia, Zhenrong, Qin, Shucheng, Meng, Lei, Ma, Qing, Angunawela, Indunil, Zhang, Jinyuan, Li, Xiaojun, He, Yakun, Lai, Wenbin, Li, Ning, Ade, Harald, Brabec, Christoph J., & Li, Yongfang. High performance tandem organic solar cells via a strongly infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20431-6
Jia, Zhenrong, Qin, Shucheng, Meng, Lei, Ma, Qing, Angunawela, Indunil, Zhang, Jinyuan, Li, Xiaojun, He, Yakun, Lai, Wenbin, Li, Ning, Ade, Harald, Brabec, Christoph J., and Li, Yongfang. Fri . "High performance tandem organic solar cells via a strongly infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20431-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1817063.
@article{osti_1817063,
title = {High performance tandem organic solar cells via a strongly infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor},
author = {Jia, Zhenrong and Qin, Shucheng and Meng, Lei and Ma, Qing and Angunawela, Indunil and Zhang, Jinyuan and Li, Xiaojun and He, Yakun and Lai, Wenbin and Li, Ning and Ade, Harald and Brabec, Christoph J. and Li, Yongfang},
abstractNote = {Tandem organic solar cells are based on the device structure monolithically connecting two solar cells to broaden overall absorption spectrum and utilize the photon energy more efficiently. Herein, we demonstrate a simple strategy of inserting a double bond between the central core and end groups of the small molecule acceptor Y6 to extend its conjugation length and absorption range. As a result, a new narrow bandgap acceptor BTPV-4F was synthesized with an optical bandgap of 1.21 eV. The single-junction devices based on BTPV-4F as acceptor achieved a power conversion efficiency of over 13.4% with a high short-circuit current density of 28.9 mA cm-2. With adopting BTPV-4F as the rear cell acceptor material, the resulting tandem devices reached a high power conversion efficiency of over 16.4% with good photostability. The results indicate that BTPV-4F is an efficient infrared-absorbing narrow bandgap acceptor and has great potential to be applied into tandem organic solar cells.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-020-20431-6},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2021},
month = {Fri Jan 08 00:00:00 EST 2021}
}

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