Volume 62, Issue 36 e202308307
Research Article

Unidirectional Sidechain Engineering to Construct Dual-Asymmetric Acceptors for 19.23 % Efficiency Organic Solar Cells with Low Energy Loss and Efficient Charge Transfer

Qunping Fan

Corresponding Author

Qunping Fan

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Ruijie Ma

Corresponding Author

Ruijie Ma

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao (GHM) Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 999077 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Jie Yang

Jie Yang

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100081 China

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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Jingshun Gao

Jingshun Gao

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 451191 China

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Hairui Bai

Hairui Bai

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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Wenyan Su

Wenyan Su

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, 710054 China

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Zezhou Liang

Zezhou Liang

Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education & Shaanxi, Key Lab of Photonic Technique for Information, School of Electronics Science & Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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Yue Wu

Yue Wu

Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Novel Semiconductor-Optoelectronics Materials and Devices, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123 China

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Lingxiao Tang

Lingxiao Tang

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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Yuxiang Li

Yuxiang Li

School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi'an University of Science and Technology, Xi'an, 710054 China

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Qiang Wu

Qiang Wu

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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Kun Wang

Kun Wang

School of Materials and Chemical Engineering, Zhongyuan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 451191 China

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Lihe Yan

Lihe Yan

Key Laboratory for Physical Electronics and Devices of the Ministry of Education & Shaanxi, Key Lab of Photonic Technique for Information, School of Electronics Science & Engineering, Faculty of Electronic and Information Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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Rui Zhang

Corresponding Author

Rui Zhang

Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden

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Feng Gao

Feng Gao

Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, 58183 Linköping, Sweden

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Gang Li

Corresponding Author

Gang Li

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Research Institute for Smart Energy (RISE), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao (GHM) Joint Laboratory for Photonic-Thermal-Electrical Energy Materials and Devices, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong, 999077 China

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Wei Ma

Corresponding Author

Wei Ma

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049 China

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First published: 18 July 2023
Citations: 40

Graphical Abstract

A dual-asymmetric Y-series acceptor is developed using unidirectional sidechain engineering. Thanks to the low energy loss and efficient charge transfer properties, the corresponding organic solar cells achieved an efficiency of 19.23 %, which is one of the highest values among annealing-free devices.

Abstract

Achieving both high open-circuit voltage (Voc) and short-circuit current density (Jsc) to boost power-conversion efficiency (PCE) is a major challenge for organic solar cells (OSCs), wherein high energy loss (Eloss) and inefficient charge transfer usually take place. Here, three new Y-series acceptors of mono-asymmetric asy-YC11 and dual-asymmetric bi-asy-YC9 and bi-asy-YC12 are developed. They share the same asymmetric D1AD2 (D1=thieno[3,2-b]thiophene and D2=selenopheno[3,2-b]thiophene) fused-core but have different unidirectional sidechain on D1 side, allowing fine-tuned molecular properties, such as intermolecular interaction, packing pattern, and crystallinity. Among the binary blends, the PM6 : bi-asy-YC12 one has better morphology with appropriate phase separation and higher order packing than the PM6 : asy-YC9 and PM6 : bi-asy-YC11 ones. Therefore, the PM6 : bi-asy-YC12-based OSCs offer a higher PCE of 17.16 % with both high Voc and Jsc, due to the reduced Eloss and efficient charge transfer properties. Inspired by the high Voc and strong NIR-absorption, bi-asy-YC12 is introduced into efficient binary PM6 : L8-BO to construct ternary OSCs. Thanks to the broadened absorption, optimized morphology, and furtherly minimized Eloss, the PM6 : L8-BO : bi-asy-YC12-based OSCs achieve a champion PCE of 19.23 %, which is one of the highest efficiencies among these annealing-free devices. Our developed unidirectional sidechain engineering for constructing bi-asymmetric Y-series acceptors provides an approach to boost PCE of OSCs.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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