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High-performance and mechanically durable semi-transparent organic solar cells with highly transparent active layers

基于透明活性层的高效柔性半透明有机太阳能电池

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Abstract

The flexibility and translucency aspects are unparalleled advantages of organic solar cells (OSCs), which have attracted great attention from the scientific and industrial communities. Currently, the key to improve the performance of flexible semi-transparent OSCs (ST-OSCs) lies in flexible transparent electrodes (FTEs) and the light-absorbing active layer. Herein, high-quality multi-layer FTEs with solar-weighted transmittance of 84.8% are employed, which allows the photo-active layer to effectively capture light and improve the light management in devices. In addition, multiple well-developed strategies, including alloy-like near-infrared acceptors (Y6:m-BTP-PhC6) and dilution of the donor with visible-range absorption (PM6), precisely utilize each band of photons, significantly balancing the conflict between photovoltaic and optical properties in ST-OSCs. The dilution of PM6 leads to highly transparent active layers with average visible transmittance of 39.3%, which is due to a decrease in donor absorption in the visible range and an increase in near-infrared absorption of the acceptor. As a result, high efficiencies of 16.44% and 11.48% are obtained for flexible opaque and semi-transparent cells. To the best of our knowledge, these results represent one of the best values for ST-OSCs based on flexible substrates. This work paves the path for realizing high-performance flexible ST-OSCs with excellent mechanical robustness, and contributes a major step toward practical applications.

摘要

柔性和半透明是有机太阳能电池(OSCs)的重要优势, 受到科学界和工业界的广泛关注. 目前, 提高柔性半透明OSCs(ST-OSCs)性能的关键是柔性透明电极(FTEs)和吸光活性层. 本文制备了透过率为84.8%的复合FTEs, 这使得活性层可以高效捕获太阳光, 优化了器件中的光管理. 此外, 在活性层中采用了多种成熟的策略, 包括构筑类合金近红外受体(Y6:m-BTP-PhC6)和稀释可见光范围强吸收的给体(PM6), 使得每个光子被精确利用, 有效平衡了ST-OSCs效率和透过率之间的冲突. 利用以上策略, 提高了活性层中可见光的透过和近红外光的吸收, 最终获得了高透明度的活性层, 其平均可见光透过率(AVT)值为39.3%. 基于此, 柔性不透明和半透明OSCs分别获得了16.44%和11.48%的能量转换效率, 这是目前柔性ST-OSCs的最高效率之一. 本工作对实现具有优异鲁棒性和高性能的ST-OSCs具有重要的指导意义, 也为其实际应用迈出了重要一步.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (21925506), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U21A20331 and 81903743), Ningbo S&T Innovation 2025 Major Special Programme (2018B10055), CAS Key Project of Frontier Science Research (QYZDBSSW-SYS030), Ningbo Natural Science Foundation (2021J192), Ningbo Key Scientific and Technological Project (2022Z117), Ningbo Public Welfare Science and Technology Planning Project (2021S149), and ZBTI Scientific Research Innovation Team (KYTD202105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Zhejiang Business Technology Institute, Ningbo, 315012, China

    Yafeng Li  (李亚峰)

  2. Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo, 315201, China

    Wei Song  (宋伟) & Ziyi Ge  (葛子义)

  3. Center of Materials Science and Optoelectronics Engineering, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Wei Song  (宋伟) & Ziyi Ge  (葛子义)

  4. CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jianqi Zhang  (张建齐)

  5. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Xiaoli Zhang  (张晓俐)

Authors
  1. Yafeng Li  (李亚峰)
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  2. Wei Song  (宋伟)
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  4. Xiaoli Zhang  (张晓俐)
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  5. Ziyi Ge  (葛子义)
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Contributions

Li Y performed the fabrication and characterization of devices. Song W conducted the data analysis. Zhang J performed the GIWAXS measurement and analyzed the results. Zhang X provided feedbacks regarding overall data analysis. The project was supervised and directed by Song W and Ge Z. Song W wrote the manuscript with contributions from Li Y, Zhang X and Ge Z. All authors commented on the manuscript for improvements.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Wei Song  (宋伟) or Ziyi Ge  (葛子义).

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary information

Experimental details and supporting data are available in the online version of the paper.

Yafeng Li received her PhD degree in information and communication systems from Ningbo University, China. She is currently an associate professor at Zhejiang Business Technology Institute. Her current research interests include information processing, circuit design and organic solar cells.

Wei Song received his PhD degree in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Ziyi Ge from Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering (NIMTE), Chinese Academy of Sciences. Currently, he works in collaboration with Prof. Ziyi Ge as a post-doctor at NIMTE, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research focuses on the development of flexible photovoltaic devices via device engineering and their applications in wearable electronic systems.

Ziyi Ge received his PhD degree from the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2004. He conducted his postdoctoral research on organic electronics at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Kanagawa University, Japan and the University of New South Wales, Australia during 2005–2009. Currently, he is the leader of the Group of Organic Electronic Material and Device at NIMTE, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on organic/perovskite solar cells and organic-light-emitting diodes.

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Li, Y., Song, W., Zhang, J. et al. High-performance and mechanically durable semi-transparent organic solar cells with highly transparent active layers. Sci. China Mater. 66, 1719–1726 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40843-022-2332-9

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