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Over 18% binary organic solar cells enabled by isomerization of non-fullerene acceptors with alkylthiophene side chains

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Abstract

Side-chain engineering has been demonstrated as an effective method for fine-tuning the optical, electrical, and morphological properties of organic semiconductors toward efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). In this work, three isomeric non-fullerene small molecule acceptors (SMAs), named BTP-4F-T2C8, BTP-4F-T2EH and BTP-4F-T3EH, with linear and branched alkyl chains substituted on the α or β positions of thiophene as the side chains, were synthesized and systematically investigated. The results demonstrate that the size and substitution position of alkyl side chains can greatly affect the electronic properties, molecular packing as well as crystallinity of the SMAs. After blending with donor polymer D18-Cl, the prominent device performance of 18.25% was achieved by the BTP-4F-T3EH-based solar cells, which is higher than those of the BTP-4F-T2EH-based (17.41%) and BTP-4F-T2C8-based (15.92%) ones. The enhanced performance of the BTP-4F-T3EH-based devices is attributed to its stronger crystallinity, higher electron mobility, suppressed biomolecular recombination, and the appropriate intermolecular interaction with the donor polymer. This work reveals that the side chain isomerization strategy can be a practical way in tuning the molecular packing and blend morphology for improving the performance of organic solar cells.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (91433202, 52103202), National Key Research and Development Program of China (2019YFA0705900) funded by MOST, the Basic and Applied Research Major Program of Guangdong Province (2019B030302007), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program, JCYJ20200109140801751), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RIF project R6021-18, CRF project C6023-19G, GRF project 16310019, 16310020), Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC-CNERC14SC01) and Foshan-HKUST (FSUST19-CAT0202). H. Z. and W. M. acknowledge the support from Ministry of Science and Technology (2016YFA0200700), NSFC (21704082, 21875182, 21534003), Key Scientific and Technological Innovation Team Project of Shaanxi Province (2020TD-002), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2017M623162), 111 project 2.0 (BP2018008). The X-ray data of this research was undertaken on the TLS23A beamline at the National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center in Taiwan, China. The authors thank Dr. Wei-Ru Wu and Dr. Chun-Jen Su for their assistance with data acquisition. X. L. and X. X. acknowledge the financial support from Research Grant Council of Hong Kong (14303519) and CUHK Direct Grant (4053415).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, China

    Ao Shang & Huawei Hu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials, Energy Institute and Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration and Reconstruction, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Ao Shang, Siwei Luo, Jianquan Zhang, Mingao Pan, Chao Li, Yuzhong Chen, Jicheng Yi & He Yan

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

    Heng Zhao & Wei Ma

  4. Department of Physics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, New Territories, Hong Kong, 999077, China

    Xinxin Xia & Xinhui Lu

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

    He Yan

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Shang, A., Luo, S., Zhang, J. et al. Over 18% binary organic solar cells enabled by isomerization of non-fullerene acceptors with alkylthiophene side chains. Sci. China Chem. 65, 1758–1766 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-022-1290-y

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