Self-Assembling Tripodal Small-Molecule Donors for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Aytun, Taner; Santos, Peter J.; Bruns, Carson J.; Huang, Dongxu; Koltonow, Andrew R.; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica; Stupp, Samuel I.

doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b10064

Title: Self-Assembling Tripodal Small-Molecule Donors for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

Journal Article · Fri Feb 12 00:00:00 EST 2016 · Journal of Physical Chemistry. C

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.5b10064· OSTI ID:1241049

Aytun, Taner ^[1]; Santos, Peter J. ^[1]; Bruns, Carson J. ^[1]; Huang, Dongxu ^[1]; Koltonow, Andrew R. ^[1]; Olvera de la Cruz, Monica ^[1]; Stupp, Samuel I. ^[2]

Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Chicago, IL (United States)

The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) could benefit from systematic studies to improve bulk heterojunction (BHJ) morphology by modifying donor compounds. Supramolecular self-assembly is an attractive strategy to combine the beneficial properties of polymeric donors, such as a well-controlled morphology, with the homogeneous composition of small molecule donors for OSCs. We report here on two tripodal “star-shaped” small-molecule donor compounds based on diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) side chains for solution-processed BHJ OSCs. The tripod molecules were found not to aggregate in solution or form crystalline domains in thin films when a branched alkyl chain (2-ethylhexyl) substituent was used, whereas linear (docedecyl) alkyl chains promote the formation of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires and more crystalline domains in the solid state. We demonstrate that the 1D self-assembly of these tripods enhances the performance of the corresponding solution-processed OSCs by 50%, which is attributed to the significant increase in the fill factor of devices resulting from a reduction of trap states.

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Research Organization:: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; FG02-00ER45810; DMR-1121262; DGE-1324585; CHE-1048773

OSTI ID:: 1241049

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1820623

Journal Information:: Journal of Physical Chemistry. C, Vol. 120, Issue 7; ISSN 1932-7447

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: ENGLISH

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Cited by: 19 works

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Title: Self-Assembling Tripodal Small-Molecule Donors for Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

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