Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor

Wei Gao; Feng Qi; Zhengxing Peng; Francis R. Lin; Kui Jiang; Cheng Zhong; Werner Kaminsky; Zhiqiang Guan; Chun Sing Lee; Tobin J. Marks; Harald Ade; Alex K.Y. Jen

doi:10.1002/adma.202202089

Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor

Wei Gao, Feng Qi, Zhengxing Peng, Francis R. Lin, Kui Jiang, Cheng Zhong^*, Werner Kaminsky, Zhiqiang Guan, Chun Sing Lee, Tobin J. Marks, Harald Ade^*, Alex K.Y. Jen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Chemistry

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

336 Scopus citations

Abstract

A record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 19% is realized in planar-mixed heterojunction (PMHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) by adopting the asymmetric selenium substitution strategy in making a pseudosymmetric electron acceptor, BS3TSe-4F. The combined molecular asymmetry with more polarizable selenium substitution increases the dielectric constant of the D18/BS3TSe-4F blend, helping lower the exciton binding energy. On the other hand, dimer packing in BS3TSe-4F is facilitated to enable free charge generation, helping more efficient exciton dissociation and lowering the radiative recombination loss (ΔE₂) of OSCs. As a result, PMHJ OSCs based on D18/BS3TSe-4F achieve a PCE of 18.48%. By incorporating another mid-bandgap acceptor Y6-O into D18/BS3TSe-4F to form a ternary PMHJ, a higher open-circuit voltage (V_OC) can be achieved to realize an impressive PCE of 19.03%. The findings of using pseudosymmetric electron acceptors in enhancing device efficiency provides an effective way to develop highly efficient acceptor materials for OSCs.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	2202089
Journal	Advanced Materials
Volume	34
Issue number	32
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202202089
State	Published - Aug 11 2022

Funding

W.G., F.Q., Z.P., and F.R.L. contributed equally to this work. A.K.Y.J. thanks the sponsorship of the Lee Shau‐Kee Chair Professor (Materials Science), and the support from the APRC Grant of the City University of Hong Kong (No. 9380086), the US Office of Naval Research (No. N00014‐20‐1‐2191), the GRF Grant (No. 11307621), and CRF Grant (No. C6023‐19GF) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, The Innovation Technology Fund (No. GHP/018/20SZ), Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (No. 2019B030302007), Guangdong‐Hong Kong‐Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials (No. 2019B121205002). W.G., F.Q., Z.P., and F.R.L. contributed equally to this work. A.K.Y.J. thanks the sponsorship of the Lee Shau-Kee Chair Professor (Materials Science), and the support from the APRC Grant of the City University of Hong Kong (No. 9380086), the US Office of Naval Research (No. N00014-20-1-2191), the GRF Grant (No. 11307621), and CRF Grant (No. C6023-19GF) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, The Innovation Technology Fund (No. GHP/018/20SZ), Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (No. 2019B030302007), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials (No. 2019B121205002).

Keywords

electron acceptors
free charge generation
organic solar cells
planar-mixed heterojunctions
pseudosymmetry

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering
General Materials Science

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10.1002/adma.202202089

Cite this

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title = "Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor",

abstract = "A record power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 19% is realized in planar-mixed heterojunction (PMHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs) by adopting the asymmetric selenium substitution strategy in making a pseudosymmetric electron acceptor, BS3TSe-4F. The combined molecular asymmetry with more polarizable selenium substitution increases the dielectric constant of the D18/BS3TSe-4F blend, helping lower the exciton binding energy. On the other hand, dimer packing in BS3TSe-4F is facilitated to enable free charge generation, helping more efficient exciton dissociation and lowering the radiative recombination loss (ΔE2) of OSCs. As a result, PMHJ OSCs based on D18/BS3TSe-4F achieve a PCE of 18.48%. By incorporating another mid-bandgap acceptor Y6-O into D18/BS3TSe-4F to form a ternary PMHJ, a higher open-circuit voltage (VOC) can be achieved to realize an impressive PCE of 19.03%. The findings of using pseudosymmetric electron acceptors in enhancing device efficiency provides an effective way to develop highly efficient acceptor materials for OSCs.",

keywords = "electron acceptors, free charge generation, organic solar cells, planar-mixed heterojunctions, pseudosymmetry",

author = "Wei Gao and Feng Qi and Zhengxing Peng and Lin, {Francis R.} and Kui Jiang and Cheng Zhong and Werner Kaminsky and Zhiqiang Guan and Lee, {Chun Sing} and Marks, {Tobin J.} and Harald Ade and Jen, {Alex K.Y.}",

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year = "2022",

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language = "English (US)",

volume = "34",

journal = "Advanced Materials",

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AU - Gao, Wei

AU - Qi, Feng

AU - Peng, Zhengxing

AU - Lin, Francis R.

AU - Jiang, Kui

AU - Zhong, Cheng

AU - Kaminsky, Werner

AU - Guan, Zhiqiang

AU - Lee, Chun Sing

AU - Marks, Tobin J.

AU - Ade, Harald

AU - Jen, Alex K.Y.

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Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor

Abstract

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CCDC 2149573: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

CCDC 2056897: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

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Achieving 19% Power Conversion Efficiency in Planar-Mixed Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells Using a Pseudosymmetric Electron Acceptor

Abstract

Funding

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Datasets

CCDC 2149573: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

CCDC 2056897: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Cite this