Green Additive Limits Runaway Crystallinity in PM6:Y6 Organic Solar Cells but Causes Field-Independent Geminate Recombination

Alqahtani, Obaid; Alotaibi, Awwad; Burnes, Michael; Collins, Brian A.

doi:10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01604

Title: Green Additive Limits Runaway Crystallinity in PM6:Y6 Organic Solar Cells but Causes Field-Independent Geminate Recombination

Journal Article · 12 October 2023 · ACS Energy Letters

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/acsenergylett.3c01604 · OSTI ID:2223015

^[1]; Alotaibi, Awwad ^[2]; Burnes, Michael ^[2];

^[2]

Washington State University, Pullman, WA (United States); Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz University, Alkharj (Saudia Arabia); Washington State University
Washington State University, Pullman, WA (United States)

Solvent additives are well-established for improving device performance of organic solar cells by enhancing nanodomain phase separation and crystallization. However, optimum additive concentrations are typically at trace amounts with slight fluctuations causing runaway crystallinity that short the device and limit scale-up potential. Furthermore, we show that a nonhalogenated solvent additive 1-phenylnaphthalene (PN) can be used to optimize high-performance PM6:Y6 devices, but without runaway crystallinity even at concentrations 10× above the optimum. Our holistic analysis of device losses shows that PN increases photoabsorption while decreasing bimolecular recombination. However, above the optimum, charge generation is reduced due to field-independent geminate recombination of charge transfer states that overcomes the other benefits. Rotated Y6 crystallite orientation is a likely culprit, where the device electric field is ineffective at separating the charges. Despite this, device performance remains higher than that of traditional additives, indicating a route to avoiding the high sensitivity of performance to processing conditions.

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Research Organization:: Washington State University, Pullman, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES), Materials Science and Engineering Division (MSE); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0017923; AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 2223015

Journal Information:: ACS Energy Letters, Journal Name: ACS Energy Letters Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 8; ISSN 2380-8195

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Green Additive Limits Runaway Crystallinity in PM6:Y6 Organic Solar Cells but Causes Field-Independent Geminate Recombination

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