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Improved photovoltaic performance of PTB7:PC71BM blend by thermal annealing and solvent vapor annealing

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Abstract

The ordered aggregation of polymer donor and acceptor greatly affects the charge transport and charge recombination in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The post-production treatment of the active layer is the most widely applied strategy to improve the micro-distribution of polymer. Here, we demonstrated a simple method for high performance solar cell with thermal annealing (TA) and solvent vapor annealing (SVA). For the PSCs based on PTB7:PC71BM, the champion power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) were improved from 7.96 to 8.68% by employing TA + SVA and further to 8.86% with SVA + TA treatment. The enhanced PCEs of PSCs undergoing SVA + TA process are mainly attributed to the formation of a network phase separation structure with donor and acceptor phases penetrating each other and the improvement of the crystallinity of PTB7, while the improved photovoltaic performance with TA + SVA treatment is owing to the improved carrier mobility of blend films. Our work provides a useful strategy toward highly efficient PSCs without time-consuming and laborious fabrication procedures.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the National Natural Science Foundation of China (61571317 and U1810204), Natural Science Foundation of Shanxi Province (20210302123110 and 20210302123092), Graduate Innovation Project Fund of Shanxi Province (2021Y291), Ningxia Sinostar Display Material Co., Ltd. open fund project for financial support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Transducers and Intelligent Control System, Ministry of Education and Shanxi Province, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaoye Zhang, Jintao Wang, Zhanfeng Li, Shanshan Guo & Yahui Tong

  2. Ningxia Screen Display Material (Ningdong) Technology Innovation Center, Ningxia Sinostar Display Material Co., Ltd., Yinchuan, 750003, People’s Republic of China

    Baoyou Liu & Gang Yue

  3. College of Physics and Optoelectronics, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan, 030024, Shanxi, People’s Republic of China

    Yuying Hao

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  1. Xiaoye Zhang
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Zhang, X., Wang, J., Li, Z. et al. Improved photovoltaic performance of PTB7:PC71BM blend by thermal annealing and solvent vapor annealing. Colloid Polym Sci 301, 11–18 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-022-05034-5

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