Synergy of Liquid-Crystalline Small-Molecule and Polymeric Donors Delivers Uncommon Morphology Evolution and 16.6% Efficiency Organic Photovoltaics

Yan, Cenqi; Tang, Hua; Ma, Ruijie; Zhang, Ming; Liu, Tao; Lv, Jie; Huang, Jiaming; Yang, YanKang; Xu, Tongle; Kan, Zhipeng; Yan, He; Liu, Feng; Lu, Shirong; Li, Gang

doi:10.1002/advs.202000149

Title: Synergy of Liquid-Crystalline Small-Molecule and Polymeric Donors Delivers Uncommon Morphology Evolution and 16.6% Efficiency Organic Photovoltaics

Journal Article · Thu Jun 18 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Advanced Science

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202000149· OSTI ID:1816503

Yan, Cenqi ^[1]; Tang, Hua ^[2]; Ma, Ruijie ^[3]; Zhang, Ming ^[4]; Liu, Tao ^[5]; Lv, Jie ^[6]; Huang, Jiaming ^[1]; Yang, YanKang ^[4]; Xu, Tongle ^[6]; Kan, Zhipeng ^[6]; Yan, He ^[5]; Liu, Feng ^[4]; Lu, Shirong ^[6];

^[1]

The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ. Shenzhen (China). ShenZhen Research Inst.; The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hung Hum Kowloon, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Electronic and Information Engineering
The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ. Shenzhen (China). ShenZhen Research Inst.; The Hong Kong Polytechnic Univ., Hung Hum Kowloon, Hong Kong (China). Dept. of Electronic and Information Engineering; Chongqing Inst. of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chongqing (China). Organic Semiconductor Research Center
Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology (HKUST), Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong (China). Center for Tissue Restoration & Reconstruction. Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research. Dept. of Chemistry
Shanghai Jiaotong Univ., Shanghai (China). Collaborative Innovation Center of IFSA (CICIFSA). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
Hong Kong Univ. of Science and Technology (HKUST), Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong (China). Center for Tissue Restoration & Reconstruction. Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research. Dept. of Chemistry
Chongqing Inst. of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chongqing (China). Organic Semiconductor Research Center

Achieving an ideal morphology is an imperative avenue for enhancing key parameters toward high-performing organic solar cells (OSCs). Among a myriad of morphological-control methods, the strategy of incorporating a third component with structural similarity and crystallinity difference to construct ternary OSCs has emerged as an effective approach to regulate morphology. A nematic liquid-crystalline benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodamine (BTR) molecule, which possesses the same alkylthio-thienyl-substituted benzo moiety but obviously stronger crystallinity compared to classical medium-bandgap polymeric donor PM6, is employed as a third component to construct ternary OSCs based on a PM6:BTR:Y6 system. The doping of BTR (5 wt%) is found to be enough to improve the OSC morphology—significantly enhancing the crystallinity of the photoactive layer while slightly reducing the donor/acceptor phase separation scale simultaneously. Rarely is such a morphology evolution reported. It positively affects the electronic properties of the device—prolongs the carrier lifetime, shortens the photocurrent decay time, facilitates exciton dissociation, charge transport, and collection, and ultimately boosts the power conversion efficiency from 15.7% to 16.6%. This result demonstrates that the successful synergy of liquid-crystalline small-molecule and polymeric donors delicately adjusts the active-layer morphology and refines device performance, which brings vibrancy to the OSC research field.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1816503

Journal Information:: Advanced Science, Vol. 7, Issue 15; ISSN 2198-3844

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Synergy of Liquid-Crystalline Small-Molecule and Polymeric Donors Delivers Uncommon Morphology Evolution and 16.6% Efficiency Organic Photovoltaics

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