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Approaching 19% efficiency and stable binary polymer solar cells enabled by a solidification strategy of solvent additive

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Abstract

Additives play a crucial role in enhancing the photovoltaic performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, the typical additives used to optimize blend morphology of PSCs are still high boiling-point solvents, while their trace residues may reduce device stability. Herein, an effective strategy of “solidification of solvent additive (SSA)” has been developed to convert additive from liquid to solid, by introducing a covalent bond into low-cost solvent diphenyl sulfide (DPS) to synthesize solid dibenzothiophene (DBT) in one-step, which achieves optimized morphology thus promoting efficiency and device stability. Owing to the fine planarity and volatilization of DBT, the DBT-processed films achieve ordered molecular crystallinity and suitable phase separation compared to the additive-free or DPS-treated ones. Importantly, the DBT-processed device also possesses improved light absorption, enhanced charge transport, and thus a champion efficiency of 17.9% is achieved in the PM6:Y6-based PSCs with an excellent additive component tolerance, reproducibility, and stability. Additionally, the DBT-processed PM6:L8-BO-based PSCs are further fabricated to study the universality of SSA strategy, offering an impressive efficiency approaching 19% as one of the highest values in binary PSCs. In conclusion, this article developed a promising strategy named SSA to boost efficiency and improve stability of PSCs.

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Acknowledgements

M. Xiao thanks for the financial support from the Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (21C0091) and the Open Fund of the State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices (South China University of Technology) (2023-skllmd-13). Q. Fan and W. Su thank for the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22209131, 22005121). The authors thank for the open fund support from School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Light-Electricity-Heat Energy-Converting Materials and Applications (GDRGCS2021002, GDRGCS2022003, GDRGCS2022002). W. Ma thanks for the support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2022YFE0132400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875182, 52173023), the Key Scientific and Technological Innovation Team Project of Shaanxi Province (2020TD-002), and 111 Project 2.0 (BP0618008). X-ray data was acquired at beamlines 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source, which is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231). Dr. Ruijie Ma from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University is appreciated for verifying the photovoltaic performance of PSCs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Chemistry, Key Laboratory of Environment-Friendly Chemistry and Application (Ministry of Education), Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Manjun Xiao, Longfei Liu, Yongdie Meng, Conggui Jin, Fan Yi & Chao Xu

  2. State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, 710049, China

    Fan Yi, Wei Ma & Qunping Fan

  3. Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, SE-58183, Sweden

    Rui Zhang

  4. State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Manjun Xiao

  5. Jiangsu Engineering Laboratory of Light-Electricity-Heat Energy-Converting Materials and Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changzhou University, Changzhou, 213164, China

    Manjun Xiao, Chao Xu & Qunping Fan

  6. Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Materials and Application Technology of Ministry of Education, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xiangtan University, Xiangtan, 411105, China

    Luocheng Liao

  7. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Science and Technology, Xi’an, 710054, China

    Wenyan Su

  8. Department of Chemistry, Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Baobing Fan & Alex K.-Y. Jen

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  1. Manjun Xiao
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  2. Longfei Liu
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  12. Wei Ma
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Correspondence to Manjun Xiao, Chao Xu, Wei Ma or Qunping Fan.

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The supporting information is available online at chem.scichina.com and link.springer.com/journal/11426. The supporting materials are published as submitted, without typesetting or editing. The responsibility for scientific accuracy and content remains entirely with the authors.

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Approaching 19% Efficiency and Stable Binary Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by a Solidification Strategy of Solvent Additive

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Xiao, M., Liu, L., Meng, Y. et al. Approaching 19% efficiency and stable binary polymer solar cells enabled by a solidification strategy of solvent additive. Sci. China Chem. 66, 1500–1510 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-023-1564-8

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