skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: New Terthiophene-Conjugated Porphyrin Donors for Highly Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Journal Article · · ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [1];  [4];  [2];  [2]
  1. South China Univ. of Technology (SCUT), Guangzhou (China). Inst. of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Lab. of Luminescent Materials and Devices
  2. Hong Kong Baptist Univ., Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Chemistry and Inst. of Advanced Materials, Inst. of Molecular Functional Materials, and Research Centre of Excellence for Organic Electronics
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Science Division
  4. Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hung Hom, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology
+ Show Author Affiliations

To mimic the natural photosynthetic systems utilizing chlorophylls to absorb light and store light energy, two new porphyrin-based small molecules of PTTR and PTTCNR have been developed for photovoltaic applications. The highest power conversion efficiency of 8.21% is achieved, corresponding to a short-circuit current of 14.30 mA cm–2, open-circuit voltage of 0.82 V, and fill factor of 70.01%. The excellent device performances can be ascribed to the engineering of molecule structure and film morphology. We report the horizontal conjugation of 3,3"-dihexyl-terthiophene to porphyrin-core with the vertical aliphatic 2-octylundecyl peripheral substitutions, can not only effectively increase the solar flux coverage between the conventional Soret and Q bands of porphyrin unit, but also optimize molecular packing through polymorphism associated with side-chains and the linear π-conjugated backbones. And the additive of 1,8-diiodooctane and subsequent chloroform solvent vapor annealing facilitate the formation of the blend films with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) characteristics of bicontinuous, interpenetrating networks required for efficient charge separation and transportation.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Polymer-Based Materials for Harvesting Solar Energy (PHaSE)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); International Science and Technology Cooperation Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001087; 2013DFG52740; 2010DFA52150; 51473053; 51073060; 91222201; 91333206; HKBU-22304115-ECS; HKBU-203011
OSTI ID:
1397211
Journal Information:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 8, Issue 44; Related Information: PHaSE partners with University of Massachusetts, Amherst (lead) and Lowell; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Pennsylvania State University; Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute; University of Pittsburgh; ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 54 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (40)

Small molecule semiconductors for high-efficiency organic photovoltaics journal January 2012
Solution-processed small-molecule solar cells with 6.7% efficiency journal November 2011
Solution-Processed Organic Solar Cells Based on Dialkylthiol-Substituted Benzodithiophene Unit with Efficiency near 10% journal October 2014
Small-molecule solar cells with efficiency over 9% journal November 2014
Rational Design of Small Molecular Donor for Solution-Processed Organic Photovoltaics with 8.1% Efficiency and High Fill Factor via Multiple Fluorine Substituents and Thiophene Bridge journal May 2015
Subtle Balance Between Length Scale of Phase Separation and Domain Purification in Small-Molecule Bulk-Heterojunction Blends under Solvent Vapor Treatment journal September 2015
Oligomeric Donor Material for High-Efficiency Organic Solar Cells: Breaking Down a Polymer journal June 2015
A-D-A Type Small Molecules Based on Boron Dipyrromethene for Solution-Processed Organic Solar Cells journal June 2015
A Series of Simple Oligomer-like Small Molecules Based on Oligothiophenes for Solution-Processed Solar Cells with High Efficiency journal March 2015
A polymer tandem solar cell with 10.6% power conversion efficiency journal February 2013
Aggregation and morphology control enables multiple cases of high-efficiency polymer solar cells journal November 2014
Single-junction polymer solar cells with high efficiency and photovoltage journal February 2015
Dithieno[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyridin-5(4H)-one-based polymers with a bandgap up to 2.02 eV for high performance field-effect transistors and polymer solar cells with an open-circuit voltage up to 0.98 V and an efficiency up to 6.84% journal January 2015
Benzo[1,2- b :4,5- b ′]dithiophene and Thieno[3,4- c ]pyrrole-4,6-dione Based Donor-π-Acceptor Conjugated Polymers for High Performance Solar Cells by Rational Structure Modulation journal April 2015
Dye-sensitized solar cells with 13% efficiency achieved through the molecular engineering of porphyrin sensitizers journal February 2014
Photovoltaic Cells Using Composite Nanoclusters of Porphyrins and Fullerenes with Gold Nanoparticles journal February 2005
Lighting porphyrins and phthalocyanines for molecular photovoltaics journal January 2010
Soluble porphyrin donors for small molecule bulk heterojunction solar cells journal January 2012
Solution processed small molecule bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics based on a conjugated donor–acceptor porphyrin journal January 2012
Enhanced performance of solution-processed solar cells based on porphyrin small molecules with a diketopyrrolopyrrole acceptor unit and a pyridine additive journal January 2013
A–π–D–π–A based porphyrin for solution processed small molecule bulk heterojunction solar cells journal January 2015
Synthesis, optical and electrochemical properties of the A–π-D–π-A porphyrin and its application as an electron donor in efficient solution processed bulk heterojunction solar cells journal January 2015
A solution-processed high performance organic solar cell using a small molecule with the thieno[3,2-b]thiophene central unit journal January 2015
A complementary absorption small molecule for efficient ternary organic solar cells journal January 2016
Highly efficient small molecule solar cells fabricated with non-halogenated solvents journal January 2015
Porphyrin small molecules containing furan- and selenophene-substituted diketopyrrolopyrrole for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells journal February 2016
Solution-processed new porphyrin-based small molecules as electron donors for highly efficient organic photovoltaics journal January 2015
Deep Absorbing Porphyrin Small Molecule for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells with Very Low Energy Losses journal June 2015
Structural engineering of porphyrin-based small molecules as donors for efficient organic solar cells journal January 2016
Influence of intermolecular interactions of electron donating small molecules on their molecular packing and performance in organic electronic devices journal January 2013
Simultaneous Enhancement of Open-Circuit Voltage, Short-Circuit Current Density, and Fill Factor in Polymer Solar Cells journal September 2011
Relationship between Crystalline Order and Exciton Diffusion Length in Molecular Organic Semiconductors journal March 2010
Device Physics of PolymerFullerene Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells journal June 2007
The Role of N-Doped Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes in Achieving Highly Efficient Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells journal May 2013
Origin of the Reduced Fill Factor and Photocurrent in MDMO-PPV:PCNEPV All-Polymer Solar Cells journal July 2007
Solution-processed small molecule:fullerene bulk-heterojunction solar cells: impedance spectroscopy deduced bulk and interfacial limits to fill-factors journal January 2013
Nongeminate Recombination and Charge Transport Limitations in Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Based Solution-Processed Small Molecule Solar Cells journal February 2013
Surface Plasmonic Effects of Metallic Nanoparticles on the Performance of Polymer Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells journal January 2011
Characterization of the morphology of solution-processed bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics journal December 2013
Soft x-ray scattering facility at the Advanced Light Source with real-time data processing and analysis journal April 2012

Cited By (10)

Efficient as-cast semi-transparent organic solar cells with efficiency over 9% and a high average visible transmittance of 27.6% journal January 2019
Porphyrin-based thick-film bulk-heterojunction solar cells for indoor light harvesting journal January 2018
Increase in efficiency on using selenophene instead of thiophene in π-bridges for D-π-DPP-π-D organic solar cells journal January 2019
Design of single-porphyrin donors toward high open-circuit voltage for organic solar cells via an energy level gradient-distribution screening strategy of fragments: a theoretical study journal January 2020
Two dimensional self-assembly zinc porphyrin and zinc phthalocyanine heterojunctions with record high power conversion efficiencies journal June 2018
High-yielding Pd 2 (dba) 3 ·C 6 H 6 -based four-fold Sonogashira coupling with selenophene-conjugated magnesium tetraethynylporphyrin for organic solar cells journal January 2019
Side-chain engineering in a thermal precursor approach for efficient photocurrent generation journal January 2017
Improving the efficiencies of small molecule solar cells by solvent vapor annealing to enhance J-aggregation journal January 2019
A-π-D-π-A Electron-Donating Small Molecules for Solution-Processed Organic Solar Cells: A Review journal October 2017
Star-shaped magnesium tetraethynylporphyrin bearing four peripheral electron-accepting diketopyrrolopyrrole functionalities for organic solar cells journal January 2019

Similar Records

Improving the efficiencies of small molecule solar cells by solvent vapor annealing to enhance J-aggregation
Journal Article · Wed Jul 10 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Journal of Materials Chemistry C · OSTI ID:1397211
+8 more
Deep Absorbing Porphyrin Small Molecule for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells with Very Low Energy Losses
Journal Article · Tue Jun 02 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Journal of the American Chemical Society · OSTI ID:1397211
+9 more
A modular molecular framework for utility in small-molecule solution-processed organic photovoltaic devices
Journal Article · Fri Jul 22 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Materials Chemistry · OSTI ID:1397211
+7 more

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
porphyrin
organic solar cells
terthiophene
peripheral substitutions
molecular packing