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Achieving over 16% efficiency for single-junction organic solar cells

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Abstract

To achieve high photovoltaic performance of bulk hetero-junction organic solar cells (OSCs), a range of critical factors including absorption profiles, energy level alignment, charge carrier mobility and miscibility of donor and acceptor materials should be carefully considered. For electron-donating materials, the deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level that is beneficial for high open-circuit voltage is much appreciated. However, a new issue in charge transfer emerges when matching such a donor with an acceptor that has a shallower HOMO energy level. More to this point, the chemical strategies used to enhance the absorption coefficient of acceptors may lead to increased molecular crystallinity, and thus result in less controllable phase-separation of photoactive layer. Therefore, to realize balanced photovoltaic parameters, the donor-acceptor combinations should simultaneously address the absorption spectra, energy levels, and film morphologies. Here, we selected two non-fullerene acceptors, namely BTPT-4F and BTPTT-4F, to match with a wide-bandgap polymer donor P2F-EHp consisting of an imide-functionalized benzotriazole moiety, as these materials presented complementary absorption and well-matched energy levels. By delicately optimizing the blend film morphology, we demonstrated an unprecedented power conversion efficiency of over 16% for the device based on P2F-EHp:BTPTT-4F, suggesting the great promise of materials matching toward high-performance OSCs.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91633301, 51521002, 21822505, 21520102006).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Baobing Fan, Difei Zhang, Meijing Li, Wenkai Zhong, Zhaomiyi Zeng, Lei Ying, Fei Huang & Yong Cao

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  1. Baobing Fan
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  2. Difei Zhang
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  3. Meijing Li
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  4. Wenkai Zhong
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  6. Lei Ying
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  7. Fei Huang
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Correspondence to Lei Ying or Fei Huang.

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Fan, B., Zhang, D., Li, M. et al. Achieving over 16% efficiency for single-junction organic solar cells. Sci. China Chem. 62, 746–752 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-019-9457-5

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