The recent progress of wide bandgap donor polymers towards non-fullerene organic solar cells

The recent progress of wide bandgap (WBG) donor polymers for non-fullerene polymer solar cells (NF-PSCs) were reviewed in detail, which was classified by D-type and D-A type molecular backbones to discuss the related structure-property correlations and put forward an outlook for future innovations.     

Effects of various donor: acceptor blend ratios on photophysical properties in non-fullerene organic bulk heterojunctions

In this work, the donor:acceptor ratio effected photophysical properties of non-fullerene organic solar cells are comparatively investigated. Effective transportation of the photo-generated charge carriers can be obtained with the PDBD-T:ITIC ratio variation. There is no significant energy loss variation exists in the process of changing the D:A ratio.     

Rylene diimide and dithienocyanovinylene copolymers for polymer solar cells

Two polymers containing(E)-2,3-bis(thiophen-2-yl)acrylonitrile(CNTVT) as a donor unit, perylene diimide(PDI) or naphthalene diimide(NDI) as an acceptor unit, are synthesized by the Stille coupling copolymerization, and used as the electron acceptors in the solution-processed organic solar cells(OSCs). Both polymers exhibit broad absorption in the region of 300–850 nm. The LUMO energy levels of the resulted polymers are ca. –3.93 eV and the HOMO energy levels are –5.97 and –5.83 eV. In the binary blend OSCs with PTB7-Th as a donor, PDI polymer yields the power conversion efficiency(PCE) of up to 1.74%, while NDI polymer yields PCE of up to 3.80%.     

通过调节共轭聚合物侧链实现可绿色溶剂加工的非富勒烯太阳能电池

有机太阳能电池(OSC)经过长期的发展,其能量转换效率(PCE)已快速推进至14%–16%,基本接近可商业化应用的范围,但在目前所见报道的高效率OSC器件的制备过程中,活性层薄膜的加工大多采用氯苯、二氯苯、氯仿等毒性较高的含卤/芳香性试剂,此类试剂对环境及人类健康的危害非常高。在本工作中,我们基于已报道的高效率给体共轭聚合物PBDB-T,通过扩大共轭侧链结构与增长柔性烷基侧链的方式,合成了新型给体聚合物PBDB-DT。PBDB-DT中较长的柔性烷基侧链保证了其在低毒性溶剂四氢呋喃(THF)溶液中良好的溶解度,同时,扩大的共轭侧链也有效增强了其在THF中的溶液聚集作用,这一特性对于在非富勒烯型OSC器件中获得较好的光伏性能尤其重要。当采用非富勒烯小分子IT-M作为电子受体材料时,以THF为主溶剂加工的基于PBDB-DT:IT-M的OSC器件可以获得10.2%的能量转换效率。     

骨架非稠合的电子受体在聚合物太阳能电池中的应用

Non-fullerene electron acceptors have attracted enormous attention of the research community owing to their advantages of optoelectronic and chemical tunabilities for promoting high-performance polymer solar cells (PSCs). Among them, fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs) are the most popular ones with the good structural planarity and rigidity, which successfully boost the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of PSCs to over 14%. In considering the cost-control of future scale-up applications, it is also worthwhile to explore novel structures that are easy to synthesize and still maintain the advantages of FREAs. In this work, we design and synthesize a new electron acceptor with an unfused backbone, 5, 5'-((2, 5-bis((2-hexyldecyl)oxy)-1, 4-phenylene)bis(thiophene-2-yl))bis(methanylylidene)) bis(3-oxo-2, 3-dihydro-1H-indene-2, 1-diylidene))dimal-ononitrile (ICTP), which contains two thiophenes and one alkoxy benzene as the core and 2-(3-oxo-2, 3-dihydroinden-1-ylidene) malononitrile (IC) as the terminal groups. The synthetic route to ICTP involves only three steps, with high yields. Density functional theory calculations indicate that the non-covalent interactions, O…H and O…S, help reinforce the space conformation between the central core and the terminals. ICTP shows broad and strong absorption in the long-wavelength range between 500 and 760 nm. The highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital levels of ICTP were measured to be -5.56 and -3.84 eV by cyclic voltammetry. The suitable absorption and energy levels make ICTP a good acceptor candidate for medium bandgap polymer donors. The best devices based on PBDB-T:ICTP showed a PCE of 4.43%, with an open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 0.97 V, a short circuit current density (J_SC) of 8.29 mA∙cm^-2, and a fill factor (FF) of 0.55, after adding 1% 1, 8-diiodooctane (DIO) as the solvent additive. Atomic force microscopy revealed that DIO could ameliorate the strong aggregation in the blended film and lead to a smoother film surface. The hole and electron mobilities of the optimized device were measured to be 9.64 and 2.03 × 10^-5 cm²∙V^-1∙s^-1, respectively, by the space-charge-limited current method. The relatively low mobilities might be responsible for the moderate PCE. Further studies can be performed to enlarge the conjugation length by including more aromatic rings. This study provides a simple strategy to design non-fullerene acceptors and a valuable reference for the future development of PSCs.     

A chlorinated non-fullerene acceptor for efficient polymer solar cells

Improving the performance and reducing the manufacturing costs are the main directions for the development of organic solar cells in the future. Here, the strategy that uses chemical structure modification to optimize the photoelectric properties is reported. A new narrow bandgap (1.30 eV) chlorinated non-fullerene electron acceptor (Y15), based on benzo[d][1,2,3] triazole with two 3-undecyl-thieno[2′,3′:4,5] thieno[3,2-b] pyrrole fused -7-heterocyclic ring, with absorption edge extending to the near-infrared (NIR) region, namely A-DA'D-A type structure, is designed and synthesized. Its electrochemical and optoelectronic properties are systematically investigated. Benefitting from its NIR light harvesting, the fabricated photovoltaic devices based on Y15 deliver a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 14.13%, when blending with a wide bandgap polymer donor PM6. Our results show that the A-DA'D-A type molecular design and application of near-infrared electron acceptors have the potential to further improve the PCE of polymer solar cells (PSCs).     

Recent developments of di-amide/imide-containing small molecular non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells

Non-fullerene organic solar cells have received increasing attentions in these years, and great progresses have been made since 2013. Among them, aromatic di-amide/imide-containing frameworks have shown promising applications. The outstanding properties of them are highly associated with their unique electronic and structural features, such as strong electron-withdrawing nature, broad absorption in UV-visible region, tunable HOMO/LUMO energy levels, easy modifications, and excellent chemical, thermal and photochemical stabilities. In this review, we give an overview of recent developments of aromatic diamide/imide-containing small molecules used as electron acceptors for organic solar cells.     

A near-infrared porphyrin-based electron acceptor for non-fullerene organic solar cells

A star-shaped electron acceptor with porphyrin as core and rhodanine-benzothiadiazole as end groups linked with ethynyl units was developed for non-fullerene solar cells, in which a PCE of 1.9% with broad photo response was achieved when combining with a diketopyrrolopyrrole-polymer as electron donor.     

Ethynyl-linked perylene bisimide based electron acceptors for non-fullerene organic solar cells

Star-shaped electron acceptors based on perylene bisimide as end groups and spiro-aromatic core linked with ethynyl units were developed for nonfullerene solar cells. Ethynyl linkers are able to improve the planarity of conjugated backbone, resulting in enhanced electron mobility and power conversion efficiency in solar cells.     

萘酰亚胺-卟啉星型电子受体分子的构筑及其在非富勒烯太阳能电池中的应用

非富勒烯太阳能电池目前已经成为有机太阳能电池的研究热点,大量的共轭电子受体分子被开发,并成功应用到高性能光伏器件中。共轭分子作为非富勒烯电子受体,需要综合考虑吸收、能级、电子传输以及结晶性等,其中宽吸收光谱可以提高对太阳光谱的利用,是分子设计中重要因素之一。本工作中,我们设计一种新型电子受体分子,以卟啉为核、萘酰亚胺为端基以及炔为桥连基团。这种新型分子具有近红外的吸收光谱以及合适的能级。将一种具有吸收互补的共轭聚合物为电子给体,星型分子为电子受体应用到电池的活性层中,我们获得了1.8%的能量转换效率,电池的光谱响应为300–900 nm。实验结果证明了这种以卟啉为核的分子设计在实现近红外吸收的电子受体方面具有重要应用前景。