Abstract The development of nonfullerene acceptors has brought polymer solar cells into a new era. Maximizing the performance of nonfullerene solar cells needs appropriate polymer donors that match with the acceptors in both electrical and morphological properties. So far, the design rationales for polymer donors are mainly borrowed from fullerene‐based solar cells, which are not necessarily applicable to nonfullerene solar cells. In this work, the influence of side chain length of polymer donors based on a set of random terpolymers PTAZ‐TPD10‐Cnon the device performance of polymer solar cells is investigated with three different acceptor materials, i.e., a fullerene acceptor [70]PCBM, a polymer acceptor N2200, and a fused‐ring molecular acceptor ITIC. Shortening the side chains of polymer donors improves the device performance of [70]PCBM‐based devices, but deteriorates the N2200‐ and ITIC‐based devices. Morphology studies unveil that the miscibility between donor and acceptor in blend films depends on the side chain length of polymer donors. Upon shortening the side chains of the polymer donors, the miscibility between the donor and acceptor increases for the [70]PCBM‐based blends, but decreases for the N2200‐ and ITIC‐based blends. These findings provide new guidelines for the development of polymer donors to match with emerging nonfullerene acceptors.
more »
« less
Pairing 1D/2D-conjugation donors/acceptors towards high-performance organic solar cells
Two polymer donors, FTAZ and J71 , and two fused-ring electron acceptors, ITIC1 and ITIC2 , are used to investigate the effects of conjugation dimension on the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). FTAZ and J71 , and ITIC1 and ITIC2 share the same molecular backbone, respectively, while J71 and ITIC2 possess conjugated thienyl side chains. The addition of conjugated side chains slightly red-shifts the absorption spectra and lowers the bandgap due to the extended 2D conjugation. Conjugated side chains on the acceptor induce the self-aggregation of the acceptors, while conjugated side chains on the donor increase the miscibility of the donors and acceptors, thus optimizing the morphology of the active layers. The blends based on mixed combinations, namely 1D donor/2D acceptor and 2D donor/1D acceptor, show better performance relative to 1D donor/1D acceptor and 2D donor/2D acceptor.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1639429
- PAR ID:
- 10132197
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Materials Chemistry Frontiers
- Volume:
- 3
- Issue:
- 2
- ISSN:
- 2052-1537
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 276 to 283
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Donor polymer fluorination has proven to be an effective method to improve the power conversion efficiency of fullerene-based polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, this fluorine effect has not been well-studied in systems containing new, non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). Here, we investigate the impact of donor polymer fluorination in NFA-based solar cells by fabricating devices with either a fluorinated conjugated polymer (FTAZ) or its non-fluorinated counterpart (HTAZ) as the donor polymer and a small molecule NFA (ITIC) as the acceptor. We found that, similar to fullerene-based devices, fluorination leads to an increased open circuit voltage ( V oc ) from the lowered HOMO level and improved fill factor (FF) from the higher charge carrier mobility. More importantly, donor polymer fluorination in this NFA-based system also led to a large increase in short circuit current ( J sc ), which stems from the improved charge transport and extraction in the fluorinated device. This study demonstrates that fluorination is also advantageous in NFA-based PSCs and may improve performance to a higher extent than in fullerene-based PSCs. In the context of other recent reports on demonstrating higher photovoltaic device efficiencies with fluorinated materials, fluorination appears to be a valuable strategy in the design and synthesis of future donors and acceptors for PSCs.more » « less
-
null (Ed.)Understanding the structural parameters that determine the extension of π-conjugation in 2-dimensions is key for controlling the optical, photophysical, and electronic properties of 2D-π-conjugated materials. In this article, three non-slanted H-mers including a donor–acceptor H-mer (H-mer-3) with an increase in dihedral angle (twist) between the strands and rungs are synthesized and studied. These non-slanted H-mers represent the repeat units of 2D-π-conjugated materials. H-mer-3, containing donor-strands and an acceptor-rung, is an unexplored donor–acceptor architecture in both slanted and non-slanted H-mers. The H-mers displayed both acid and base dependent optical properties. While the rungs have a little impact on the H-mer absorption spectra they play a key role in the emission and fluorescence lifetime. H-mer-3 ( i.e. , donor–acceptor H-mer) shows a higher Stokes shift and fluorescence lifetime than the other two H-mers. The twist and the presence of an electron deficient rung in H-mer-3 facilitated an intramolecular charge transfer in the excited state from the strands to the electron deficient rung, and therefore control over the H-mer emission properties. The lack of insulating pendant chains, reduced π–π interactions in thinfilms, and longer fluorescence lifetimes make these H-mers interesting candidates for various electronic and optoelectronic applications.more » « less
-
Side-chain sequence enabled regioisomeric acceptors, bearing different side-chain sequences on the same conjugated backbone, are herein reported. Two regioregular polymers PTBI-1 and PTBI-2 and one regiorandom polymer PTBI-3 were synthesized from these two regioisomeric acceptors for a comparative study. UV–vis–NIR absorption spectroscopy and electrochemical study confirmed similar frontier molecular orbital levels of the three polymers in their solid state. More intriguingly, absorption profiles suggest that the sequence of side chains greatly governs the aggregation behaviors. Furthermore, the PTBI-2 film shows larger ordered domains than PTBI-1 and PTBI-3 films, as supported by AFM and GIWAXS measurements. As a result, PTBI-2-based FET devices achieved an average hole mobility of 1.37 cm2 V–1 s–1, much higher than the two polymers with other side-chain sequences. The regiorandom PTBI-3 exhibited the lowest average hole mobility of 0.27 cm2 V–1 s–1. This study highlights the significant impact of side-chain sequence regioisomerism on aggregation behaviors, morphologies, and subsequently charge transport properties of donor–acceptor type conjugated polymers.more » « less
-
Conjugated polymers composed of tricoordinate boron and π-conjugated units possess extended conjugation with relatively low-lying LUMOs arising from p B –π interactions. However, donor–acceptor (D–A) polymers that feature triorganoboranes alternating with highly electron-rich donors remain scarce. We present here a new class of hybrid D–A polymers that combine electron-rich dithienosiloles or dithienogermoles with highly robust tricoordinate borane acceptors. Polymers of modest to high molecular weight are readily prepared by Pd-catalyzed Stille coupling reaction of bis(halothienyl)boranes and distannyldithienosiloles or -germoles. The polymers are obtained as dark red solids that are stable in air and soluble in common organic solvents. Long wavelength UV-vis absorptions at ca. 500–550 nm indicate effective π-conjugation and pronounced D–A interactions along the backbone. The emission maxima occur at wavelengths longer than 600 nm in solution and experience further shifts to lower energy with increasing solvent polarity, indicative of strong intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) character of the excited state. The powerful acceptor character of the borane comonomer units in the polymer structures is also evident from cyclic voltammetry (CV) analyses that reveal relatively low-lying LUMO levels of the polymers, enhancing the D–A interaction. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations on model oligomers further support these experimental observations.more » « less