Versatile third components for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Cheng, Pei; Zhan, Xiaowei

doi:10.1039/c5mh00090d

Cited by 170 publications

(131 citation statements)

References 287 publications

(311 reference statements)

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“…Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) possess some advantages over their traditional inorganic counterparts, such as low cost, light weight, flexibility and portability. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14] Recently, the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of the OPVs have exceeded 10%. [15][16][17][18] Before the mid-1980s, the active layer in OPVs consisted of a single layer based on only one component of organic material sandwiched between two different electrodes with different Layer-by-layer (LL) processes, i.e., sequential deposition of different active layers, are widely used in the fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Organic Solar Cells

Wang

Zhan

2016

Advanced Energy Materials

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104

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Layer‐by‐layer (LL) processes, i.e., sequential deposition of different active layers, are widely used in the fabrication of organic solar cells (OSCs). Recently, LL vacuum deposition and LL solution processes have attracted considerable attention. LL processing presents some advantages over the blend method: a) donor and acceptor layers can be easily and independently controlled and optimized; b) the charge carriers dissociated from excitons at the donor–acceptor interface are confined to each phase, so bimolecular recombination losses can be reduced; c) bilayer geometries enable an easier way for understanding the physical processes taking place at the donor–acceptor interface; d) desired vertical phase separation for charge extraction can be obtained through changing the sequence of donor and acceptor deposition. This report summarizes the recent developments of LL processed OSCs. The remaining problems and challenges, and the key research direction in near future are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Organic Solar Cells

Wang

Zhan

2016

Advanced Energy Materials

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104

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“…[20] In addition, Hou and co-workers recently reported a series of copolymers, and in particular, the copolymer T1 (poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)-4-fluorothiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′] dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1′,3′-di-2-thienyl-5′,7′-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1′,2′-c:4′,5′-c′] dithiophene-4,8-dione)] (PBDB-TF) = 0.8 and PTO2 = 0.2) produced the bestefficiency of 15.1% and certified PCE of 14.6% in PSCs using 3,9-bis(2-methylene-((3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-6,7difluoro)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′] dithiophene (IT-4F) acceptor. [21][22][23] To this end, the ternary The record efficiency of the state-of-the-art polymer solar cells (PSCs) is rapidly increasing, due to the discovery of high-performance photoactive donor and acceptor materials. [21][22][23] To this end, the ternary The record efficiency of the state-of-the-art polymer solar cells (PSCs) is rapidly increasing, due to the discovery of high-performance photoactive donor and acceptor materials.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Slot‐Die and Roll‐to‐Roll Processed Single Junction Organic Photovoltaic Cells with the Highest Efficiency

Lee

Seo

Kwon

et al. 2019

Advanced Energy Materials

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PSC-efficiencies have increased with intensive effort on novel materials synthesis, film-morphology engineering, and interface control, and the state-of-the-art PSCs have eventually produced a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 15%. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21] For example, Zou et al. reported a newly synthesized nonfullerene acceptor (NFA), Y6, having an electron-deficient-core-based fused ring with a benzothiadiazole unit, and the resulting single-junction PSCs based on PM6:Y6 BHJ showed an excellent efficiency of 15.7% and a certified PCE of 14.9%. [20] In addition, Hou and co-workers recently reported a series of copolymers, and in particular, the copolymer T1 (poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)-4-fluorothiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′] dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1′,3′-di-2-thienyl-5′,7′-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1′,2′-c:4′,5′-c′] dithiophene-4,8-dione)] (PBDB-TF) = 0.8 and PTO2 = 0.2) produced the bestefficiency of 15.1% and certified PCE of 14.6% in PSCs using 3,9-bis(2-methylene-((3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-6,7difluoro)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′] dithiophene (IT-4F) acceptor. [21] One of the representative routes to further enhance PSCefficiency is broadening the absorption bandwidth of the active film for better sunlight absorption. [21][22][23] To this end, the ternary The record efficiency of the state-of-the-art polymer solar cells (PSCs) is rapidly increasing, due to the discovery of high-performance photoactive donor and acceptor materials. However, strong questions remain as to whether such high-efficiency PSCs can be produced by scalable processes. This paper reports a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.5% achieved with single-junction ternary PSCs based on PTB7-Th, PC 71 BM, and COi8DFIC fabricated by slot-die coating, which shows the highest PCE ever reported in PSCs fabricated by a scalable process. To understand the origin of the high performance of the slot-die coated device, slot-die coated photoactive films and devices are systematically investigated. These results indicate that the good performance of the slot-die PSCs can be due to a favorable moleculestructure and film-morphology change by introducing 1,8-diiodooctane and heat treatment, which can lead to improved charge transport with reduced carrier recombination. The optimized condition is then used for the fabrication of large-area modules and also for roll-to-roll fabrication. The slot-die coated module with 30 cm 2 active-area and roll-to-roll produced flexible PSC has shown 8.6% and 9.6%, respectively. These efficiencies are the highest in each category and demonstrate the strong potential of the slot-die coated ternary system for commercial applications. Photovoltaic DevicesThe ORCID identification number(s) for the author(s) of this article can be found under https://doi.Over the past few decades, solution-processed bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) polymer solar cells (PSCs) have continued to demonstrate their potential as a high-ef...

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“…12 Another promising concept to reduce degradation in fullerene-based solar cells is the use of third components which can improve the mechanical, photo, air and thermal stability of organic solar cells. 13 Such third components can be crosslinkers, [14][15][16] conventional fullerenes, [17][18][19] modified fullerene derivatives, [20][21][22] compatibilizers 23,24 or insulating polymers. 25 In this work, we overcome the aggregation of the fullerene acceptor PC 61 BM during thermal annealing by employing ternary D-D-A blends comprising two commercially available donor polymers.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced thermal stability of organic solar cells comprising ternary D-D-A bulk-heterojunctions

et al. 2017

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Ternary absorber blends have recently been identified as promising concepts to spectrally broaden the absorption of organic bulkheterojunction solar cells and hence to improve their power conversion efficiencies. In this work, we demonstrate that D-D-A ternary blends comprising two donor polymers and the acceptor PC 61 BM can also significantly enhance the thermal stability of the solar cell. Upon harsh thermal stress at 120°C for 2 h, the ternary solar cells show only a minor relative deterioration of 10%. Whereas the polymer/fullerene blend PTB7-Th:PC 61 BM is rather unstable under these conditions, its degradation was efficiently suppressed by incorporating the near infrared-absorbing polymer PDTP-DFBT. Spectroscopic ellipsometry investigations and an effective medium analysis of the ternary absorber blend revealed that the domain conformation in presence of PDTP-DFBT remains stable whereas the domain conformation changes in its absence. The ternary PTB7-Th:PDTP-DFBT:PC 61 BM solar cells yield thermally stable power conversion efficiencies of up to 6%.npj Flexible Electronics (2017) 1:11 ; doi:10.1038/s41528-017-0011-z INTRODUCTIONThe continuous improvement of materials and device architectures for organic bulk-heterojunction solar cells nowadays constantly enables power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) beyond 10%.1, 2 While the PCEs of state-of-the-art organic solar cells are sufficient to meet the demands of some first applications and hence to foster market entry, the device stability often drags behind. The stability of organic solar cells is often limited by a metastable bulk-heterojunction morphology, the diffusion of electrode or buffer layer components into adjacent layers, material decomposition through oxygen and water ingress, irradiation, mechanical stress or heat.3-5 Yet, excellent thermal stability of the organic solar cells is a prerequisite for most future applications. Besides thermal stress when the solar cell is exposed to the sun, the devices may have to endure harsh conditions during fabrication, e.g., when manufacturing car roofs, tiles or façade elements, typically requiring lamination temperatures of 120°C for several hours. 6,7 Upon thermal stress, one of the major degradation mechanisms is the aggregation of fullerene acceptors, commonly [6,6]-phenyl C 71 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 71 BM) or [6,6]-phenyl C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM). 8,9 In the recent literature, several methods were discussed to hamper fullerene aggregation-for example sample irradiation during annealing, 10 structural modification of fullerenes 11 or replacing fullerenes with non-fullerene acceptors.12 Another promising concept to reduce degradation in fullerene-based solar cells is the use of third components which can improve the mechanical, photo, air and thermal stability of organic solar cells.13 Such third components can be crosslinkers, [14][15][16] In this work, we overcome the aggregation of the fullerene acceptor PC 61 BM during thermal annealing by employing ternary D-D-A blends comprisi...

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Versatile third components for efficient and stable organic solar cells

Cited by 170 publications

References 287 publications

Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Organic Solar Cells

Layer‐by‐Layer Processed Organic Solar Cells

Slot‐Die and Roll‐to‐Roll Processed Single Junction Organic Photovoltaic Cells with the Highest Efficiency

Enhanced thermal stability of organic solar cells comprising ternary D-D-A bulk-heterojunctions

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