journal article·2019-12Open access

All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells with an Ordered Liquid Crystalline Donor

Haiyan Chen, Dingqin Hu, Qianguang Yang, Jie Gao, Jiehao Fu, Ke Yang, Hao He, Shanshan Chen, Zhipeng Kan, Tainan Duan, Changduk Yang, Jianyong Ouyang, Zeyun Xiao, Kuan Sun, Shirong Lu

Joule· Volume 3· Issue 12

Abstract

Summary The crystallinity and intermolecular interaction among small molecules are enhanced in order to achieve reasonable phase segregation between the donor and acceptor in all-small-molecule organic solar cells (ASM OSCs). By substituting an alkyl side chain with a chlorine (Cl) atom on the original benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodanine (BTR) molecule, the new small molecular donor, namely BTR-Cl, processes a more ordered liquid crystalline property, down-shifted molecular energy levels, and higher crystallinity. When blended with a non-fullerene acceptor Y6, which has a complementary absorption profile and well-matched energy levels but no liquid crystalline property, a prominent phase separation and optimal film morphology are obtained. As a result, a record-high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.6% is achieved, taking a large step forward in ASM OSCs. Our results highlight the importance of crystallinity to phase separation, suggesting the great promise of liquid crystalline materials in OSCs.
Source: openaire · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗

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.

References (37)

Show source-provided references
1. Organic photovoltaics over three decades10.1002/adma.201800388 ↗
2. Next-generation organic photovoltaics based on non-fullerene acceptors10.1038/s41566-018-0104-9 ↗
3. Fine-tuning of the chemical structure of photoactive materials for highly efficient organic photovoltaics10.1038/s41560-018-0263-4 ↗
4. Immobilization strategies for organic semiconducting conjugated polymers10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00063 ↗
5. Achieving over 16% efficiency for single-junction organic solar cells10.1007/s11426-019-9457-5 ↗
6. Organic and solution-processed tandem solar cells with 17.3% efficiency10.1126/science.aat2612 ↗
7. High-performance multiple-donor bulk heterojunction solar cells10.1038/nphoton.2015.9 ↗
8. Organic solar cells based on non-fullerene acceptors10.1038/nmat5063 ↗
9. Single-junction organic solar cell with over 15% efficiency using fused-ring acceptor with electron-deficient core10.1016/j.joule.2019.01.004 ↗
10. Fused benzothiadiazole: a building block for n-type organic acceptor to achieve high-performance organic solar cells10.1002/adma.201807577 ↗
11. Enabling low voltage losses and high photocurrent in fullerene-free organic photovoltaics10.1038/s41467-019-08386-9 ↗
12. High performance photovoltaic applications using solution-processed small molecules10.1021/ar400088c ↗
13. High efficiency small molecule-based donor materials for organic solar cells10.1016/j.orgel.2018.03.048 ↗
14. Small-molecule solar cells with efficiency over 9%10.1038/nphoton.2014.269 ↗
15. Over 12% efficiency nonfullerene all-small-molecule organic solar cells with sequentially evolved multilength scale morphologies10.1002/adma.201807842 ↗
16. High-efficiency small-molecule ternary solar cells with a hierarchical morphology enabled by synergizing fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors10.1038/s41560-018-0234-9 ↗
17. Non-fullerene all-small-molecule organic solar cells10.1021/acsenergylett.9b00528 ↗
18. A molecular nematic liquid crystalline material for high-performance organic photovoltaics10.1038/ncomms7013 ↗
19. High-performance ternary organic solar cell enabled by a thick active layer containing a liquid crystalline small molecule donor10.1021/jacs.6b11991 ↗
20. Liquid crystals in photovoltaics: a new generation of organic photovoltaics10.1038/pj.2016.109 ↗
21. Liquid-crystalline small molecules for nonfullerene solar cells with high fill factors and power conversion efficiencies10.1002/aenm.201803175 ↗
22. Over 14% efficiency in organic solar cells enabled by chlorinated nonfullerene small-molecule acceptors10.1002/adma.201800613 ↗
23. Synergistic effect of halogenation on molecular energy level and photovoltaic performance modulations of highly efficient small molecular materials10.1016/j.nanoen.2017.08.027 ↗
24. Effect of halogenation in isoindigo-based polymers on the phase separation and molecular orientation of bulk heterojunction solar cells10.1021/acs.macromol.5b01074 ↗
25. The effect of H- and J-Aggregation on the photophysical and photovoltaic properties of small thiophene–pyridine–DPP Molecules for bulk-heterojunction solar cells10.1002/adfm.201605779 ↗
26. Solubilizing core modifications on high-performing benzodithiophene-based molecular semiconductors and their influences on film nanostructure and photovoltaic performance10.1039/C9TA00168A ↗
27. Nonhalogen solvent-processed polymer solar cells based on chlorine and trialkylsilyl substituted conjugated polymers achieve 12.8% efficiency10.1039/C8TA10662B ↗
28. Low-energy-loss polymer solar cells with 14.52% efficiency enabled by wide-band-gap copolymers10.1016/j.isci.2018.12.027 ↗
29. Quantitative determination of organic semiconductor microstructure from the molecular to device scale10.1021/cr3001109 ↗
30. Electrical characteristics and efficiency of single-layer organic light-emitting diodes10.1103/PhysRevB.58.R13411 ↗
31. New anthracene-fused nonfullerene acceptors for high-efficiency organic solar cells: energy level modulations enabling match of donor and acceptor10.1002/aenm.201803541 ↗
32. Morphology of a thermally stable small molecule OPV blend comprising a liquid crystalline donor and fullerene acceptor10.1039/C9TA01989H ↗
33. Reorientation of nematic liquid-crystals and liquid-crystalline polymers in an electric field studied by FT-IR time-resolved spectroscopy and 2D-correlation analysis10.1021/jp961588s ↗
34. Over 14% efficiency in polymer solar cells enabled by a chlorinated polymer donor10.1002/adma.201800868 ↗
35. Hierarchical self-assembly of semiconductor functionalized peptide a-helices and optoelectronic properties10.1021/ja110858k ↗
36. Aqueous microwave-assisted one-pot synthesis of N-substituted rhodanines10.1016/j.tetlet.2012.07.002 ↗
37. Wide-bandgap small molecular acceptors based on a weak electron-withdrawing moiety for efficient polymer solar cells10.1002/solr.201800120 ↗