journal article·2020-12Open access

Random Polymerization Strategy Leads to a Family of Donor Polymers Enabling Well‐Controlled Morphology and Multiple Cases of High‐Performance Organic Solar Cells

Jiaen Liang, Mingao Pan, Gaoda Chai, Zhengxing Peng, Jianquan Zhang, Siwei Luo, Qi Han, Yuzhong Chen, Ao Shang, Fujin Bai, Yuan Xu, Han Yu, Joshua Yuk Lin Lai, Qing Chen, Maojie Zhang, Harald Ade, He Yan

Advanced Materials· Volume 32· Issue 52

Abstract

Abstract Developing high‐performance donor polymers is important for nonfullerene organic solar cells (NF‐OSCs), as state‐of‐the‐art nonfullerene acceptors can only perform well if they are coupled with a matching donor with suitable energy levels. However, there are very limited choices of donor polymers for NF‐OSCs, and the most commonly used ones are polymers named PM6 and PM7, which suffer from several problems. First, the performance of these polymers (particularly PM7) relies on precise control of their molecular weights. Also, their optimal morphology is extremely sensitive to any structural modification. In this work, a family of donor polymers is developed based on a random polymerization strategy. These polymers can achieve well‐controlled morphology and high‐performance with a variety of chemical structures and molecular weights. The polymer donors are D–A1–D–A2‐type random copolymers in which the D and A1 units are monomers originating from PM6 or PM7, while the A2 unit comprises an electron‐deficient core flanked by two thiophene rings with branched alkyl chains. Consequently, multiple cases of highly efficient NF‐OSCs are achieved with efficiencies between 16.0% and 17.1%. As the electron‐deficient cores can be changed to many other structural units, the strategy can easily expand the choices of high‐performance donor polymers for NF‐OSCs.
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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

Department of Chemistry and Hong Kong Branch of Chinese National Engineering Research Center for Tissue Restoration & Reconstruction Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) Clear Water Bay Kowloon 999077 China

Department of Physics and Organic and Carbon Electronics Laboratories (ORaCEL) North Carolina State University Raleigh NC 27695 USA

eFlexPV Limited Jinxiu Science Park Shenzhen 518000 China

HKUST Energy Institute The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Clear Water Bay, SAR Kowloon 999077 China

Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials College of Chemistry Chemical Engineering and Materials Science Soochow University Suzhou 215123 P. R. China

Hong Kong University of Science and Technology‐Shenzhen Research Institute No. 9, Yuexing 1st RD, Hi‐tech Park, Nanshan Shenzhen 518057 China

Funding

National Basic Research Program of China · State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices · South China University of Technology · Innovation and Technology Commission · Office of Naval Research · Office of Science · Basic Energy Sciences · U.S. Department of Energy

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