Two new D–A conjugated polymers P(PTQD-Th) and P(PTQD-2Th) with same 9-(2-octyldodecyl)-8H-pyrrolo[3,4-b]bisthieno[2,3-f:3′,2′-h]quinoxaline-8,10(9H)-dione acceptor and different donor units for BHJ polymer solar cells application

We report the synthesis, characterization and photovoltaic properties of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells of new donor–acceptor conjugated copolymers P(PTQD-Th) and P(PTQD-2Th) that incorporate same strong 9-(2-octyldodecyl)-8H-pyrrolo[3,4-b]bisthieno[2,3-f:3′,2′-h]quinoxaline-8,10(9H)-dione as strong acceptor and different weak thiophene (Th) and bi-thiophene (2Th) as donors, respectively. Both the copolymers showed suitable unoccupied lowest molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels, compatible with the LUMO of PC₇₁BM for efficient electron transfer from copolymer to PC₇₁BM in the blended copolymer: PC₇₁BM thin films. Moreover the deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels of both copolymers ensures the high open circuit voltage (V_oc) of the BHJ polymer solar cells. The optimized P(PTQD-Th):PC₇₁BM and P(PTQD-2Th):PC₇₁BM with weight ratio of 1:2 processed with chloroform solvent showed PCE of 3.65% and 3.96%, respectively. The higher value of J_sc for the device processed with P(PTQD-2Th):PC₇₁BM as compared to that for P(PTQD-Th):PC₇₁BM, attributed to narrower optical bandgap and broader absorption profile for P(PTQD-2Th) as compared to P(PTQD-Th). The PCE values of polymer solar cells were further improved (5.54% and 5.67% for P(PTQD-Th):PC₇₁BM and P(PTQD-2Th):PC₇₁BM, respectively) when small amounts of solvent additive, i.e. 1,8-diiodoctane (DIO) were used for the processing of active layers. The improved PCE has been attributed to both the enhanced values of short circuit current (J_sc) and fill factor (FF) due to the better nanomorphology and charge transport, induced by the high boiling point of solvent additive.     

Synthesis,optical and electrochemical properties new donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers based on benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b″] trithiophene donor and different acceptor units: Application as donor for photovoltaic devices

Two new conjugated D–A polymers P3 (PBTT-d-BTT) and P4 (PBTT-d-TPD) based on same benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b″] trithiophene (BTT) donor and different acceptors monomers 5,8-dibromo-2-dodecanoylbenzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b″] trithiophene (d-BTT), and 1,3-dibromo-5-(2-ethylhexyl)thieno[3,4]pyrrol-4,6-dione (d-TPD) respectively, were synthesized by Stille cross-coupling reaction and characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), ¹H NMR, UV–Vis absorption, thermal analysis and electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests. Photovoltaic properties of the polymers were studied by using the polymers as donor and PC₇₁BM as acceptor with a weight ratio of polymer:PC₇₁BM 1:1, 1:2 and 1:2.5. The optimized photovoltaic device was fabricated with an active layer of a blend P3:PC₇₁BM and P4:PC₇₁BM with a blend ratio of 1:2 showed PCE 3.16% and 2.42%, respectively under illumination of AM 1.5 at 100 mW/cm² with solar simulator. The PCE of the device based on P3:PC₇₁BM processed with DIO/o-DCB has been further improved up to 4.64% with J_sc of 10.52 mA/cm² and FF of 0.58 attributed to the increase in crystalline nature of active layer and more balanced charge transport in the device, induced by DIO additive.     

Fluorinated and non-fluorinated conjugated polymers showing different photovoltaic properties in polymer solar cells with PFNBr interlayers

Photovoltaic properties of the two polymers (named as PBQ-0F and PBQ-4F) were investigated by employing [6, 6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as the acceptor and a water-alcohol-soluble polymer interlayer material (named as PFNBr) to fabricate photovoltaic devices. For the PBQ-0F:PC₇₁BM blend, the device using Ca/Al as cathode showed very similar efficiency as the device using PFNBr/Al as cathode, while for the PBQ-0F:PC₇₁BM blend, photovoltaic performance of the device can be distinctly improved by replacing Ca/Al with PFNBr/Al. As a result, the best PCE of the PBQ-4F:PC₇₁BM based devices reached 9.04%, which is much higher than that of the PBQ-0F:PC₇₁BM based devices. The results obtained from the quantum chemistry calculations and water contact angle measurements demonstrate that these two polymers are low polar materials, and also the films based on them have hydrophobic surfaces. Since PFNBr has an amphipathic structure (hydrophobic backbone and hydrophilic side chain) and the blend films of PBQ-4F:PC₇₁BM and PBQ-4F:PC₇₁BM have different surface energies, the PFNBr organization atop these two blend types of should be different, which will affect device photovoltaic performance.     

Efficient semitransparent organic solar cells with good color perception and good color rendering by blade coating

This paper proposes high efficiency semitransparent organic solar cells (OSCs) with good color perception and good color rendering using blade coating technique. We investigate four different polymer blends and first fabricate small area devices with active area of 0.04 cm², followed by large area devices with active area of 10.8 cm². Two of the polymer blends, 2,6-Bis(trimethyltin)-4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene:6,6-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PBDTTT-CT:PC₇₁BM) and poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′] dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)]:PC₇₁BM (PBDTTT-EFT:PC₇₁BM) show promising results. For small area devices, semitransparent PBDTTT-CT:PC₇₁BM and semitransparent PBDTTT-EFT:PC₇₁BM achieve a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.2% (opaque PCE = 7.5%) and 5.6% (opaque PCE = 9.4%) respectively. For large area devices, they are found to produce a PCE of 3.8% (opaque PCE = 4.2%) and 5.3% (opaque PCE = 5.9%) respectively. Based on the CIE 1931 chromaticity diagram, semitransparent PBDTTT-CT:PC₇₁BM and semitransparent PBDTTT-EFT:PC₇₁BM are located very close to the standard illuminant D65, indicating good color perception. As for color rendering, they demonstrate high color rendering index (CRI) of 95.4 and 87.1 respectively. These combined high performances indicate high-quality transmitted light, which is suitable for window application.     

Donor–acceptor–acceptor–donor small molecules for solution processed bulk heterojunction solar cells

We report on the optical and electrochemical characterization (experimental and theoretical) of two donor substituted benzothiadiazole with different cyano based acceptor π-linkers, tetracyanobutadiene (TCBD) SM1 and dicyanoquinomethane (DCNQ) SM2, and explore them as the donor component for solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, along with PC₇₁BM as the electron acceptor. The solution bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells based on dichloromethane (DCM) processed active layer with SM1 and SM2 as donor and PC₇₁BM as acceptor achieve power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.76% and 3.61%, respectively. The solar cells based on these two small molecules exhibit good Voc, which is attributed to their deep HOMO energy level. The higher PCE of the device based on SM2 compared to SM1 is attributed to the its small bandgap, broader absorption profile and enhanced hole mobility. Additionally, the PCE of the SM2:PC₇₁BM based solar cells processed with 1-chloronaphthalene CN (3 v%)/DCM is further improved reaching upto 4.86%. This increase in PCE has been attributed to the improved nanoscale morphology and more balanced charge transport in the device, due to the solvent additive.     

New m-alkoxy-p-fluorophenyl difluoroquinoxaline based polymers in efficient fullerene solar cells with high fill factor

Two new donor (D) - acceptor (A) copolymers, named m-O-p-F-DFQx-BDT (OFQx-T) and m-EH-p-F-DFQx-BDT (EHFQx-T), which were based on meta-octyloxy-para-fluorophenyl and meta-ethylhexyloxy-para-fluorophenyl difluoroquinoxaline as acceptor units (O-DFQx/EH-DFQx) and alkylthienyl substituted benzodithiophene (BDT) as a donor unit, were designed and synthesized. EHFQx-T had higher absorption coefficient than OFQx-T which contributed to larger short-circuit current density (J_sc). EHFQx-T showed a lower the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) which is beneficial for the voltage open-circuit (V_oc). The polymer solar cells (PSCs) based OFQx-T:PC₇₁BM and EHFQx-T:PC₇₁BM blended film as active layer showed high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.60% and 8.44%, respectively, with 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) solvent additive treatment. More importantly, OFQx-T:PC₇₁BM and EHFQx-T:PC₇₁BM had good fill factor (FF), especially the FF of OFQx-T:PC₇₁BM was over 70%. The high FF contributed to obtain high PCEs for OFQx-T and EHFQx-T. The more balanced and higher charge mobility, smaller geminate recombination and suitable nanoscale phase separation size of EHFQx-T demonstrate that changing octyl chain to ethylhexyl chain in DFQx acceptor unit is efficient to improve photovoltaic properties in fullerene solar cells.     

Revealing the effect of donor/acceptor intermolecular arrangement on organic solar cells performance based on two-dimensional conjugated small molecule as electron donor

A series of solution processed organic solar cells (OSCs) were fabricated with a two-dimensional conjugated small molecule SMPV1 as electron donor and fullerene derivatives PC₇₁BM or ICBA as electron acceptor. The champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs arrives to 7.05% for the cells with PC₇₁BM as electron acceptor. A relatively large open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 1.15 V is obtained from cells using ICBA as electron acceptor with an acceptable PCE of 2.54%. The fill factor (FF) of OSCs is 72% or 61% for the cells with PC₇₁BM or ICBA as electron acceptor, which is relatively high value for small molecule OSCs. The relatively low performance of OSCs with ICBA as electron acceptor indicates that ICBA cannot play positive role in photoelectric conversion processes, which is very similar to the phenomenon observed from the OSCs with high efficient narrow band gap polymers other than P3HT as electron donor, the underlying reason is still in debate. The SMPV1 has strong self-assemble ability to form an ordered two dimensional lamellar structure, which provides an effective platform to investigate the effect of electron acceptor chemical structure on the performance of OSCs. Experimental results exhibit that ICBA molecules may prefer to vertical cross-intercalation among side chains of SMPV1, PC₇₁BM molecules may have better miscibility with SMPV1 in the active layer. The different donor/acceptor (D/A) intermolecular arrangement strongly influences photon harvesting, exciton dissociation and charge carrier transport, which may provide a new sight on performance improvement of OSCs by adjusting D/A intermolecular arrangements.     

D-A-D-A-D push pull organic small molecules based on 5,10-dihydroindolo[3,2-b]indole (DINI) central core donor for solution processed bulk heterojunction solar cells

Two D-A-D-A-D small molecules based on same 5,10-dihydroindolo [3,2-b]indole central donor core and different benzothiadiazole (BT) and fluorine substituted BT (FBT) acceptor units, denoted as p-DINI-(BTTh₃)₂ (1) and p-DINI-(FBTTTh₃)₂ (2), respectively were synthesized and their optical and electrochemical properties were investigated. These molecules were applied as donor along with PC₇₁BM as electron acceptor for the fabrication of solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The solar cells prepared from the optimized active blended layer (1:2) cast from dichlorobenzene (DCB) showed overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.02% and 2.70% for 1 and 2, respectively as donor. The higher PCE of 2 as compared to 1 is attributed to the higher hole mobility and broader IPCE spectra. In order to improve the PCE we have employed a two step treatment of active layer i.e. solvent vapor annealing after thermal annealing (SVA-TA) and the PCE has been enhanced up to 4.14% and 5.27% for optimized 1:PC₇₁BM and 2:PC₇₁BM active layers, respectively. The improvement in the PCE has been resulted from the improvement in the balanced charge transport and better crystallinity of the donor in the blended active layer.     

Fluorine functionalized asymmetric indo [2,3-b]quinoxaline framework based D-A copolymer for fullerene polymer solar cells

Innovating molecular structure of copolymer donor materials is still one of the prominent approach to obtain high-performance polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this paper, two novel wide bandgap (WBG) copolymers, namely PBDTTS-IQ and PBDTTS-DFIQ, based on asymmetric planar aromatic core indo [( Li et al., 2012; Wang et al., 2020) 2,32,3-b]quinoxaline (IQ) as acceptor unit through tuning side chains with fluorine (F) atom engineering and exemplary alkylthio-thienyl substituted benzodithiophene (BDTTS) donor group, are synthesized and finally employed as the photovoltaic donor materials for fullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs). After blending with PC₇₁BM acceptor, the PBDTTS-DFIQ:PC₇₁BM blend film presented better efficient exciton dissociation and charge extraction, more balanced electron/hole mobility (μ_h/μ_e), and nice morphology in comparison with PBDTTS-IQ:PC₇₁BM blend film. Encouragingly, the PBDTTS-DFIQ:PC₇₁BM based PSCs exhibits a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.4% than that of the device based on the PBDTTS-IQ:PC₇₁BM blend with a PCE of 4.96%, which thanks to an enhancement of open-circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.84 V, short current density (J_sc) of 13.26 mA cm⁻² and fill factor (FF) of 66.00% simultaneously. These results demonstrate that this asymmetric IQ framework is a wonderful acceptor moiety to build light-harvesting copolymers for highly efficient PSCs.     

Solution-processable tetrazine and oligothiophene based linear A–D–A small molecules: Synthesis,hierarchical structure and photovoltaic properties

A series of high coplanar alternative linear small molecules with acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) structure containing electron-accepting tetrazine (Tz) moiety and electron-donating oligothiophenes (OTs) moiety, alkylated thiophene attached to both sides of the Tz moiety were designed and synthesized. The influences of varied oligothiophene length on small molecules’ optical and electrochemical properties, crystallization, self assembling morphology in blend film with (6,6)-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM), and photovoltaic properties for the application as donor materials in organic solar cells (OSCs) were studied. The optical and electrochemical properties of small molecules showed that the HOMO and LUMO energy levels were determined by the number of OTs moiety and electron-accepting ability of Tz in the alternative small molecules, respectively. Meanwhile, the varied OT moieties can significantly affect the hierarchical structures when mixed with PC₆₁BM. The molecule with intermediate conjugate moity length showed the highest ordering in its crystalline state, as revealed by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and X-ray diffraction experiments, and best photovoltaic properties when blended together with PC₆₁BM or (6,6)-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as active layer in photovoltaic devices. The results indicate that hierarchical structures controlled by adjusting the conjugate moity length of small molecules is an effective way to improve the performance of OSCs. The photovoltaic device based on TT(HTTzHT)₂:PC₇₁BM with 1% DIO additives showed the best performance, with a J_sc of 7.87 mA/cm² and a PCE of 3.24%.     

New soluble porphyrin bearing a pyridinylethynyl group as donor for bulk heterojunction solar cells

Bulk heterojunction solar cells were fabricated using the blend films of a porphyrin bearing pyridinylethynyl group (POR) as electron donor and PC₆₀BM or PC₇₀BM as electron acceptor. Photoluminescence measurement of the blend films of POR with fullerene derivatives indicated that charge transfer was possible between POR and fullerene derivatives. The solution processed bulk heterojunction solar cells using the blend of POR with PC₆₀BM and PC₇₀BM exhibit overall power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.96% and 2.54%, respectively. The PCE of the BHJ solar cell has been further improved up to 3.27% when thermally annealed POR:PC₇₀BM was used as active layer, which is attributed mainly to the increase in short circuit current. The increase in J_sc is attributed to the enhanced crystallinity of the blend (particularly POR) and efficient π-electron conjugation of POR, resulting to an improvement in hole mobility, leading to more balance charge transport. The PCE of the device based on as cast POR:PC₇₀BM has been further improved up to 4.06% when DMF treated PEDOT:PSS buffer layer was used.     

Polyacetylene-based polyelectrolyte as a universal interfacial layer for efficient inverted polymer solar cells

Here we report that poly(N-dodecyl-2-ethynylpyridiniumbromide) (PDEPB) interlayers between electron-collecting zinc oxide (ZnO) layers and bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layers act as a universal interfacial layer for improving the performances of inverted-type polymer:fullerene solar cells. Three different BHJ layers, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT):[6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM), poly[(4,8-bis(2-ethylhexyloxy)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene)-2,6-diyl-alt-(N-2-ethylhexylthieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione)-2,6-diyl]] (PBDTTPD):PC₆₁BM, and poly[4,8-bis[(2-ethylhexyl)oxy]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl][3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]-thiophenediyl] (PTB7) and [6,6]-phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM), were employed so as to prove the role of the PDEPB interlayers. Results showed that the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of polymer:fullerene solar cells with the three different BHJ layers increased in the presence of the PDEPB interlayers prepared from 0.5 mg/ml solutions. The improved PCE was attributed to the conformal coating of the PDEPB layers on the ZnO layers (by atomic force microscopy measurement), lowered work functions of ZnO induced by the PDEPB layers (by Kelvin probe measurement), and reduced interface resistance (by impedance spectroscopy measurement), as supported by the noticeable change in the atom environments of both the ZnO and PDEPB layers (by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurement).     

Role of fullerene electron transport layer on the morphology and optoelectronic properties of perovskite solar cells

High performance, hysteresis-free, low temperature n-i-p perovskite solar cells are successfully fabricated by solution processing using fullerene electron transport layer (ETL). PC₇₁BM fullerene, with broader absorption spectrum and lower HOMO level, when incorporated in the perovskite solar cell yielded average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.9%. This is the highest reported PCE in n-i-p perovskite solar cells with PC₇₁BM ETL. The devices exhibited negligible hysteresis and high open-circuit voltage (V_oc). On the contrary, devices with PC₆₁BM, a common fullerene ETL in perovskite solar cell, exhibited large hysteresis and lower V_oc. The underlying mechanisms of superior performance of devices with PC₇₁BM ETL were found to be correlated with fullerene surface wettability and perovskite grain size. The influence of fullerene ETL on the perovskite grain growth and subsequent photovoltaic performance was investigated by contact angle measurement, morphological characterization of the surface topography and electrochemical impedance analysis.     

Acceptor-rich bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells with balanced charge mobilities

In this work, we reported efficient polymer solar cells with balanced hole/electron mobilities tuned by the acceptor content in bulk heterojunction blend films. The photovoltaic cells were fabricated with two new wide band-gap D-A polymers PBDDIDT and PBDDIDTT as the donor material. The molecular conformations of new polymers are carefully evaluated by theoretical calculations. The results of photovoltaic studies show that two devices reach their optimal conditions with rich PC₇₁BM content up to 80% in blend films, which is uncommon with most of reported PSCs. The as-cast devices based on PBDDIDT and PBDDIDTT reveal good photovoltaic performance with PCE of 7.04% and 6.40%, respectively. The influence of PC₇₁BM content on photovoltaic properties is further detailed studied by photoluminescence emission spectra, charge mobilities and heterojunction morphology. The results exhibit that more efficient charge transport between donor and acceptor occurs in rich PC₇₁BM blend films. Meanwhile, the hole and electron mobilities are simultaneously enhanced and afford a good balance in rich PC₇₁BM blend films (D/A, 1:4) which is critical for the improvement of current density and fill factors.     

The Novel Additive 1‐Naphthalenethiol Opens a New Processing Route to Efficiency‐Enhanced Polymer Solar Cells

Polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on fullerene derivatives often require additives to optimize active layer morphology. Here, the novel additive 1‐naphthalenethiol (SH‐na) is proposed for processing the PSC active layer of PTB7:PC₇₁BM. Spin‐casting with SH‐na as additive achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.3%, compared to 6.7% for preparations containing the conventional 1,8‐diiodooctane additive. Dipping of the active layer into a methanol solution of critical SH‐na concentration increases the PCE further to 8.75%. This is mainly due to an improved open‐circuit voltage (from 0.72 to 0.79 V) together with a high achieved fill factor of 0.70. The improved PCE is correlated to the morphology optimization according to measurements of grazing incidence small/wide‐angle X‐ray scattering, neutron reflectivity, atomic force microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The integrated results suggest that the halogen‐free additive SH‐na can form hydrogen bonds with both PTB7 and PC₇₁BM, resulting in substantially improved PTB7 crystallization and multi‐length‐scale PC₇₁BM dispersion for appropriate aggregation and networks. The subsequent dipping treatment with SH‐na further modifies the active layer morphology for a more PC₇₁BM‐enriched surface and better PC₇₁BM networks in the bulk film for an optimized electron‐to‐hole mobility ratio of 2.04, hence resulting in improved device performance.     

Benzothiadiazole-pyrrolo[3,4-b]dithieno[2,3-f:3′,2′-h]quinoxalindione-based random terpolymer incorporating strong and weak electron accepting [1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4g]quinoxalinefor polymer solar cells

We report the synthesis of a D-A random terpolymer denoted as P2 consists of one thiophene donor unit and three acceptor benzothiadiazole (BT), pyrrolodithienoquinoxalinedione (PDQD) and thiadiazoloquinoxaline (TDQ) units by Stille-coupling reaction and investigated its optical and electrochemical properties. We have compared its properties with the parent copolymer P1. The P2 exhibits bandgap of about 1.18 eV which is lower than that of P1 (1.50 eV), indicating strength of accepting units controls both the optical and electrochemical bandgap. We have used terpolymer P2 as electron donor along with [6,6]-phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) as electron acceptor for the fabrication of solution processed bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells (PSCs). PSC based on an optimized P2:PC₇₁BM (1:2 by weight) active layer processed with 3v % DIO/DCB solution, displayed a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.22%, which is higher than that for P1 based polymer solar cell (PCE = 6.56%) processed under same conditions. The higher value of PCE for P2:PC₇₁BM may be related to more favorable phase separated morphology of active layer as compared to P1:PC₇₁BM, beneficial for the exciton dissociation and charge transport, as evidenced from the larger hole mobility.     

Efficiency enhancement of polymer solar cells by applying an alcohol-soluble fullerene aminoethanol derivative as a cathode buffer layer

Cathode buffer layer (CBL) introduced between the active layer and cathode is crucial for selectively transporting electrons and blocking holes for polymer solar cells (PSCs). Calcium (Ca) is the most commonly used CBL in conventional-structure bulk heterojunction (BHJ) PSC devices, but is prone to oxidation due to its high reactivity, inhibiting its practical applications. Herein, we applied an alcohol-soluble fullerene aminoethanol derivative (C₆₀-ETA) as an efficient CBL surpassing Ca in conventional-structure BHJ-PSC devices, leading to obvious efficiency enhancement with the best power conversion efficiency (PCE) reaching 9.66%. C₆₀-ETA CBL was applied in PSC devices based on three different photoactive layer systems, including poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-co-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate]:[6,6]-phenyl C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM), polythieno[3,4-b]thiophene-co-benzodithiophene (PTB7):PC₇₁BM and poly(4,8-bis-alkyloxybenzo(l,2-b:4,5-b′)dithiophene-2,6-diylalt-(alkylthieno(3,4-b)thiophene-2-carboxylate)-2,6-diyl) (PBDTTT-C):PC₇₁BM, affording the best PCE of 9.66%, 8.51% and 7.19%, respectively, which are all higher than those of the corresponding devices based on the commonly used Ca CBL. The mechanism of efficiency enhancement of C₆₀-ETA CBL relative to Ca is studied, revealing that C₆₀-ETA CBL may induce improvements on both the interfacial contact between the active layer/cathode and electron transport, facilitating electron extraction by the Al cathode, and consequently leading to the increase of short-circuit current density (J_sc), which contributes primarily to the PCE improvement.     

New ultra low bandgap thiadiazolequinoxaline-based D-A copolymers for photovoltaic applications

In this communication, we designed two low bandgap D-A copolymers with same fluorinated thiadiazoloquinoxaline (TDQ) as acceptor and different donor units benzo[2,1-b;3,4-b′]dithiophene (P1) and benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (P2). P1 and P2 exhibit broad absorption profiles covering from 350 nm to 1150 nm and 350–950 nm, respectively with optical bandgaps of 1.06 eV and 1.18 eV, respectively. Both copolymers showed deep highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMO), i.e. −5.38 eV and −5.26 eV, for P1 and P2. Their photovoltaic properties were evaluated using conventional devices with a structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/copolymer:PC₇₁BM/Al. After the optimizations of the copolymer to PC₇₁BM weight ratios, and concentration of the solvent additive (DIO), the devices showed overall power conversion efficiencies of 4.03% and 5.42% for the P1 and P2 based devices, respectively. The higher value of PCE of the P2 based device is attributed to the higher values of J_sc and FF, that is related to the higher hole mobility and better exciton dissociation efficiency. Although the PCEs of these devices are moderate, these ultra low band gap copolymers can be used for their potential application in tandem polymers solar cells. Finally, methanol treatment of the active layer was adopted to increase the PCE of the P2:PC₇₁BM based polymer solar cells that resulted in an improved PCE up to 6.93%.     

The effect of processing solvent dependent film aggregation on the photovoltaic performance of squaraine:PC71BM bulk heterojunction solar cells

In this work, we systemically investigated the processing solvent-dependent aggregation behavior of a squaraine dye, 2,4-bis[4-(N,N-dibutylamino)-2,6- dihydroxyphenyl] squaraine (DBSQ), in a DBSQ: [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) blend film, as well as the aggregation effect on the photovoltaic performance of DBSQ:PC₇₁BM bulk heterojunctions (BHJs). Our finding shows that the aggregation behavior of DBSQ dye in the blend film can be controlled via the proper selection of the processing solvents. For a J-aggregate (head-to-tail molecule alignment) DBSQ:PC₇₁BM active layer based BHJ cells, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 5% can be obtained, which is 75% higher than that of the H-aggregate (parallel molecule packing) active layer based BHJ cells. Our results indicate that the processing solvent controlled J-aggregation formation shall be considered as effective approach to tune the optical and electrical properties of thin films for high-performance BHJ solar cells.     

Effects of different polar solvents for solvent vapor annealing treatment on the performance of polymer solar cells

The effects of different polar solvents on the performance of solvent vapor annealing treated polymer solar cell (PSC) with a structure of ITO/ZnO/PTB7: PC₇₁BM/MoO₃/Ag was systematically investigated by applying different polar solvents, including methanol, ethanol, dimethylsulfoxide, acetone and isopropanol. By analyzing the variation of PSC performance and the morphology of active layer, we found that both the solubility parameters (Δ) and viscosity of solvent were playing an important role in controlling the morphology of PTB7: PC₇₁BM blend. Especially, the PSC treated by methanol with high Δ and low viscosity exhibited a remarkable enhancement of power conversion efficiency from 6.55% to 8.13%. The performance improvement was mainly due to the formation of the nanoscale crystallization of PTB7: PC₇₁BM blend and the moderated aggregation of PC₇₁BM, resulting in efficient charge separation, balanced charge transport and suppressed charge recombination.