2 research outputs found
Molecular Engineering for Large Open-Circuit Voltage and Low Energy Loss in Around 10% Non-fullerene Organic Photovoltaics
Recent
efforts in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have been devoted
to obtaining low-bandgap non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) for high photocurrent
generation. However, the low-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital
(LUMO) level in narrow bandgap NFAs typically results in a small energy
difference (Δ<i>E</i><sub>DA</sub>) between the LUMO
of the acceptor and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO)
of the donor, leading to low open-circuit voltage (<i>V</i><sub>OC</sub>). The trade-off between Δ<i>E</i><sub>DA</sub> and photocurrent generation significantly limits the simultaneous
enhancement of both <i>V</i><sub>OC</sub> and short-circuit
current density (<i>J</i><sub>SC</sub>). Here, we report
a new medium-bandgap NFA, IDTT-T, containing a weakly electron-withdrawing <i>N</i>-ethyl thiabarbituric acid terminal group on each end of
the indacenodithienothiophene (IDTT) core. When paired with a benchmark
low-bandgap PTB7-th polymer donor, simultaneous enhancement of both
Δ<i>E</i><sub>DA</sub> and absorption spectral coverage
was realized. The OPV devices yield a <i>V</i><sub>OC</sub> of 1.01 V, corresponding to a low energy loss of 0.57 eV in around
10% efficiency single-junction NFA OPVs. The design demonstrates a
working principle to concurrently increase Δ<i>E</i><sub>DA</sub> and photocurrent generation for high <i>V</i><sub>OC</sub> and PCE in bulk fullerene-free heterojunction OPVs