We report an efficiency of 6.1% for a solution-processed non-fullerene solar cell using a helical perylene diimide (PDI) dimer as the electron acceptor. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy revealed both electron and hole transfer processes at the donor-acceptor interfaces, indicating that charge carriers are created from photogenerated excitons in both the electron donor and acceptor phases. Light-intensity-dependent current-voltage measurements suggested different recombination rates under short-circuit and open-circuit conditions.

Despite numerous organic semiconducting materials synthesized for organic photovoltaics in the past decade, fullerenes are widely used as electron acceptors in highly efficient bulk-heterojunction solar cells. None of the non-fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cells have achieved efficiencies as high as fullerene-based solar cells. Design principles for fullerene-free acceptors remain unclear in the field. Here we report examples of helical molecular semiconductors as electron acceptors that are on par with fullerene derivatives in efficient solar cells. We achieved an 8.3% power conversion efficiency in a solar cell, which is a record high for non-fullerene bulk heterojunctions. Femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy revealed both electron and hole transfer processes at the donor−acceptor interfaces. Atomic force microscopy reveals a mesh-like network of acceptors with pores that are tens of nanometres in diameter for efficient exciton separation and charge transport. This study describes a new motif for designing highly efficient acceptors for organic solar cells.

Microelectrode voltammetry has been considered to be a powerful technique for single biological cell analysis and brain research. In this paper, we have developed a simple method to get highly sensitive carbon fiber nanoelectrodes (CFNE) modified by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) on the basis of our previous work. The electrochemical behavior of SWNTs/CFNE was characterized by potassium ferricyanide, dopamine (DA), epinephrine (E), and norepinephrine (NE) using cyclic voltammetry (CV). Compared with CFNE, SWNTs/CFNE has a much larger available internal surface area per external geometric area, which is supported by SEM images. The modified electrodes show very high sensitivity and favorable electrochemical behavior toward these neurotransmitters. The peak current increases linearly with the concentration of DA, E, and NE in the range of 1.0 x 10(-)(7)-1.0 x 10(-)(4), 3.0 x 10(-)(7)-1.0 x 10(-)(4), and 5.0 x 10(-)(7)-1.0 x 10(-)(4) M, respectively. The CV detection limit (S/N = 3) of DA, E, and NE is 7.7 x 10(-)(9), 3.8 x 10(-)(8), and 4.2 x 10(-)(8) M, respectively. The modified electrode exhibited almost the same electrochemical behavior after 15 days, indicating that SWNTs/CFNE is pretty stable and has good reproducibility.