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Probing the properties of polymer/non-fullerene/fullerene bulk heterojunction ternary blend solar cells, study of varied blend ratios of PBDB-T:ITIC-Th:PC71BM

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Abstract

A major noble way to realizing high-efficiency organic solar cell device is the use of ternary blends with non-fullerene acceptors. Although offset in the band gap (E-gap) of the donor/acceptor material is negligible, it still exhibits ultra-fast and efficient charge separation. Regardless of the progress made, device optimization and fundamental understanding of the role of structural configurations in charge transport mechanisms is still on the way. The performances and stability of such devices largely depend on the nanoscale solid-state interpenetrating morphology of their donor/acceptor components within the photoactive region. Here, we analyze the effects of the second acceptor material PC71BM which is fullerene derivative on the nano-morphology within the bulk-heterojunction active layer made of PBDB-T (as donor) and non-fullerene derivative ITIC-Th (as acceptor) as well as the photovoltaic performance. Upon varying the blend ratio, 2:1:1 ratio showed a remarkable performance with more photo-generated current resulting from the favorable nano-scaled interpenetrating network with less traps as can be visualized in Fig. 1.

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to sincerely thank University of the Witwatersrand, School of Chemistry, School of Physics, Material Physics Research Institute, MMU facilities at Wits and NRF (South Africa). We also appreciate the help of Rachel Kilbride of University of Sheffield and Thomas Derrien of Diamond Light source (DLS Ltd) for the GIWAXs measurements and help. Special thanks to GCRF- START: Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology for postdoctoral funding.

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation (Grant No. 85675), GCRF- START: Synchrotron Techniques for African Research and Technology (Grant No. ST/R002754/1), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (Grant No. a0039051).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Chemistry, Molecular Sciences Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

    Francis Otieno, Mildred Airo, Caren Billing, Daniel Wamwangi & David G. Billing

  2. School of Physics, Material Physics Research Institute, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits, Johannesburg, 2050, South Africa

    Francis Otieno, Lesias Kotane, Rudolph M. Erasmus & Daniel Wamwangi

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  1. Francis Otieno
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Correspondence to Francis Otieno.

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Otieno, F., Kotane, L., Airo, M. et al. Probing the properties of polymer/non-fullerene/fullerene bulk heterojunction ternary blend solar cells, study of varied blend ratios of PBDB-T:ITIC-Th:PC71BM. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 136, 171 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-021-01129-0

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