Polymer Acceptors for High‐Performance All‐Polymer Solar Cells

Abstract

All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) have attracted considerable attention owing to their pronounced advantages of excellent mechanical flexibility/stretchability and greatly enhanced device stability as compared to other types of organic solar cells (OSCs). Thanks to the extensive research efforts dedicated to the development of polymer acceptors, all-PSCs have achieved remarkable improvement of photovoltaic performance, recently. This review summarizes the recent progress of polymer acceptors based on the key electron-deficient building blocks, which include bithiophene imide (BTI) derivatives, boron-nitrogen coordination bond (B ! N)-incorporated (hetero)arenes, cyano-functionalized (hetero)arenes, and fused-ring electron acceptors (FREAs). In addition, single-component-based all-PSCs are also briefly discussed. The structure-property correlations of polymer acceptors are elaborated in detail. Finally, we offer our insights into the development of new electron-deficient building blocks with further optimized properties and the polymers built from them for efficient all-PSCs.

N-Coordinated Organoboron in Polymer Synthesis and Material Science

“…The introduction of the N→B dative bond onto the backbone of polymers has also been explored in recent years. Main-chain nitrogen–boron-containing polymers played an important role in the field of optoelectronic ,, and heat-resistant materials . Different routes for the synthesis of these polymers were implemented, which involved coupling reaction, boron-induced ether cleavage, dehydration condensation, etc.…”

n-Type Polymer Semiconductors Based on Dithienylpyrazinediimide

“…1 H NMR (400 MHz, CDCl 3 ): δ (ppm): 4.07 (s, 6H). 13 (7). Compound 6 (0.9 g, 1.89 mmol), KOH (1.06 g, 18.9 mmol), THF (25 mL), H 2 O (5 mL), and EtOH (25 mL) were added to a round bottom flask, and the reaction mixture was refluxed overnight.…”

“…π-Conjugated semiconducting polymers have attracted great attention due to their advantages such as light weight, mechanical flexibility, and solution-based processability, which enables the fabrication of various optoelectronic devices in a cost-effective and high-throughput fashion, such as organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs), − organic thermoelectrics (OTEs), and organic solar cells (OSCs). − In the past two decades, tremendous research efforts have been conducted to exploit π-conjugated building blocks to access high-performance semiconducting polymers. , However, the device performance of n-type (electron transporting) polymers is still far behind the p-type (hole transporting) counterparts, which is mainly ascribed to the scarcity of very electron-deficient building blocks with a planar backbone, compact geometry, and good solubility. − Therefore, designing and synthesizing novel electron-deficient building blocks with optimized physicochemical properties is imperative to develop high-performance n-type polymers.…”

Sequential Processing Enables 17% All-Polymer Solar Cells via Non-Halogen Organic Solvent

“…When the electron donor is a polymer and the non-fullerene acceptor is also a polymer, the solar cell is typically referred to as an all-polymer solar cell (All-PSC) [ 16 , 17 ]. Due to their similar advantages to small molecule acceptor-based OSCs, All-PSCs possess better mechanical properties, such as higher tensile and flexural toughness, and potentially higher thermal stability, which give them better prospects for mass production [ 18 , 19 , 20 ].…”