Abstract
Despite the significant progress made recently in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs), it is still quite challenging to achieve high open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) simultaneously in order to further improve their performance. The recent strategy of using selenophene to replace thiophene on the Y6 based polymer acceptors has resulted in significantly improved Jscs of the resulting all-PSCs. However, such modifications have also depressed Voc, which compromises the overall performance of the devices. Herein, we present the design and synthesis of a novel polymer acceptor, PYT-1S1Se, created by inserting an asymmetrical selenophene-fused framework to precisely manipulate optical absorption and electronic properties. Compared with the selenium-free analog, PYT-2S, and symmetrical selenium-fused analog, PYT-2Se, the PYT-1S1Se derived all-PSCs not only deliver optimized Jsc (24.1 mA cm−2) and Voc (0.926 V) metrics, but also exhibit a relatively low energy loss of 0.502 eV. Consequently, these devices obtain a record-high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.3% in binary all-PSCs. This work demonstrates an effective molecular design strategy for balancing the trade-off between Voc and Jsc to achieve high-efficiency all-PSCs.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the APRC Grant of the City University of Hong Kong (9380086), Innovation and Technology Fund (ITS/497/18FP, GHP/021/18SZ), the Office of Naval Research (N00014-20-1-2191), the GRF grant (11307621) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21905103), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province (2019A1515010761, 2019A1515011131), Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2019B030302007), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials (2019B121205002), and the Fundamental Research (Discipline Arrangement) Project funding from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (JCYJ20180507181718203). A.K.-Y. Jen is thankful for the sponsorship of the Lee Shau-Kee Chair Professor of Materials Science. T.J. Marks thanks the US Office of Naval Research Contract N00014-20-1-2116 for support. The authors also thank Dr. Shanshan Chen from Chongqing University for help with GIWAXS measurement.
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16.3% Efficiency Binary All-Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by a Novel Polymer Acceptor with an Asymmetrical Selenophene-Fused Backbone
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Fu, H., Fan, Q., Gao, W. et al. 16.3% Efficiency binary all-polymer solar cells enabled by a novel polymer acceptor with an asymmetrical selenophene-fused backbone. Sci. China Chem. 65, 309–317 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-1140-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-021-1140-x