journal article·2021-11-17

Effects of Alkyl Side Chains of Small Molecule Donors on Morphology and the Photovoltaic Property of All-Small-Molecule Solar Cells

Keli Shi, Beibei Qiu, Can Zhu, Jia Yao, Xinxin Xia, Jinyuan Zhang, Lei Meng, Shihua Huang, Xinhui Lu, Yan Wan, Zhi-Guo Zhang, Yongfang Li

ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces· Volume 13· Issue 45
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Abstract

Unraveling the relationship between nanoscale morphology of active layers and chemical structures of organic semiconductor photovoltaic materials is crucially important for further advancing the development of all-small-molecule organic solar cells (SM-OSCs). Here, in order to delve into the effect of flexible side chains of small molecule donors on the photovoltaic properties of SM-OSCs, we synthesized two new small molecule donors substituted by different flexible alkyl chains (iso-octyl chains for SM1-EH and n-octyl chains for SM1-Oct). As a result, the two small molecules present different absorption properties, energy levels, and stacking characteristics. When blending with Y6 as an acceptor, the SM1-Oct-based SM-OSC demonstrated a higher PCE value of 11.73%, while the SM1-EH-based device presents a relatively poorer PCE value of 8.42%. In addition, the morphology analysis demonstrated that, compared with the SM1-EH:Y6 blend, the SM1-Oct:Y6 blend film displayed better molecular stacking properties with stronger multilevel diffraction and preferable phase separation, resulting in the higher hole mobility, more efficient charge separation efficiency, and better device performance. These results underline that reasonably adjusting the flexible alkyl chains of small molecule donors can be an effective approach to further advance the development of the SM-OSCs field.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics · Conducting polymers and applications · Perovskite Materials and Applications

SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.

Affiliations

Key Laboratory of Solid State Optoelectronic Devices of Zhejiang Province, College of Physics and Electronic Information Engineering, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, Zhejiang 321004, China

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100190, China

School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, China

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

College of Chemistry, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China

Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215123, China

Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China · Government of Guangdong Province · National Natural Science Foundation of China · Natural Science Foundation of Zhejiang Province · Zhejiang Province

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