Volume 41, Issue 2 pp. 159-166
Concise Report

Simultaneous Optimization of Efficiency, Stretchability, and Stability in All-Polymer Solar Cells via Aggregation Control

Kaihu Xian

Kaihu Xian

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

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Kangkang Zhou

Kangkang Zhou

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

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Mingfei Li

Mingfei Li

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

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Junwei Liu

Junwei Liu

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

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Yaowen Zhang

Yaowen Zhang

Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai, Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, 201204 China

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Tao Zhang

Tao Zhang

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190, China

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Yong Cui

Yong Cui

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190, China

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Wenchao Zhao

Wenchao Zhao

College of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210037 China

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Chunming Yang

Chunming Yang

Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Shanghai, Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai, 201204 China

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Jianhui Hou

Jianhui Hou

Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences Beijing 100190, China

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Yanhou Geng

Yanhou Geng

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

Joint School of National University of Singapore and Tianjin University, International Campus of Tianjin University Binhai New City, Fuzhou, Fujian, 350207 China

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Long Ye

Corresponding Author

Long Ye

School of Materials Science & Engineering, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Optoelectronic Sciences, Tianjin University, and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemical Science and Engineering Tianjin, 300350 China

E-mail: [email protected]Search for more papers by this author
First published: 03 October 2022
Citations: 30

Dedicated to the Special Issue of Emerging Investigators in 2022.

Comprehensive Summary

With the emergence of Y-series small molecule acceptors, polymerizing the small molecule acceptors with aromatic linker units has attracted significant research attention, which has greatly advanced the photovoltaic performance of all-polymer solar cells. Despite the rapid increase in efficiency, the unique characteristics (e. g., mechanical stretchability and flexibility) of all-polymer systems were still not thoroughly explored. In this work, we demonstrate an effective approach to simultaneously improve device performance, stability, and mechanical robustness of all-polymer solar cells by properly suppressing the aggregation and crystallization behaviors of polymerized Y-series acceptors. Strikingly, when introducing 50 wt% PYF-IT (a fluorinated version of PY-IT) into the well-known PM6:PY-IT system, the all-polymer devices delivered an impressive photovoltaic efficiency of 16.6%, significantly higher than that of the control binary cell (15.0%). Compared with the two binary systems, the optimal ternary blend exhibits more efficient charge separation and balanced charge transport accompanying with less recombination. Moreover, a high-performance 1.0 cm2 large-area device of 15% efficiency was demonstrated for the optimized ternary all-polymer blend, which offered a desirable PCE of 14.5% on flexible substrates and improved mechanical flexibility after bending 1000 cycles. Notably, these are among the best results for 1.0 cm2 all-polymer OPVs thus far. This work also heralds a bright future of all-polymer systems for flexible wearable energy-harvesting applications. image

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