A highly crystalline donor enables over 17% efficiency for small-molecule organic solar cell

Abstract

The development of novel small-molecule donor is crucial for achieving highly efficient small-molecule organic solar cells (SM-OSCs). In this study, two small-molecule donors, B3TR and B2, were designed and synthesized. In comparison to B3TR, the skeleton of B2 includes an additional benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) unit, but lacks two alkylated thiophene units. Although both small-molecule donors exhibit similar absorption profiles in solution, B2 demonstrates stronger crystallinity and lower energetic disorder than B3TR. When blended with the non-fullerene acceptor BTP-eC9, the B2:BTP-eC9 film exhibits a smaller π-π distance and a more favorable bulk heterojunction morphology. Interestingly, with an increase in solvent vapor annealing (SVA) time, B3TR shows a significant redshift in the absorption edge in the B3TR:BTP-eC9 film and an upshifted HOMO level. In contrast, B2 does not exhibit redshifts in the absorption edge in the B2:BTP-eC9 film and maintains an unchanged HOMO level. Consequently, the as-cast B3TR:BTP-eC9-based device achieves a PCE of 2.36%, with an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.870 V. After SVA treatment, the B3TR:BTP-eC9-based SM-OSC attains a PCE of 14.8% with a significantly reduced VOC of 0.809 V. In contrast, the as-cast B2:BTP-eC9-based device exhibits a significantly high PCE of 9.8% with a VOC of 0.876 V. After SVA treatment, the B2:BTP-eC9-based device produces a superior PCE of 17.1%, with a slightly reduced VOC of 0.861 V. This study indicates that the development of highly crystalline donor materials is one of the promising strategies for achieving high-performance SM-OSCs.

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 Jan 2024
Accepted
16 Apr 2024
First published
17 Apr 2024

Energy Environ. Sci., 2024, Accepted Manuscript

A highly crystalline donor enables over 17% efficiency for small-molecule organic solar cell

T. Zhang, C. An, P. Bi, K. Xian, Z. Chen, J. Wang, Y. Xu, J. Dai, L. Ma, G. Wang, X. Hao, L. Ye, S. Zhang and J. Hou, Energy Environ. Sci., 2024, Accepted Manuscript , DOI: 10.1039/D4EE00400K

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