Article
Engineering, Environmental
Jing Wang, Hongbin Chen, Chenxi Li, Yi Lin, Yang Yang, Zaifei Ma, Yan Lu
Summary: The fluorination strategy for non-fullerene acceptors has been established as an effective method to improve the power conversion efficiencies of organic solar cells. This study investigated the effect of different central unit fluorination strategies on molecular stacking and performance. The results showed that synergistically regulating the central unit through fluorination and trifluoromethylation improved the photovoltaic performance the most.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xin Song, Kai Zhang, Renjun Guo, Kun Sun, Zhongxin Zhou, Shenglei Huang, Linus Huber, Manuel Reus, Jungui Zhou, Matthias Schwartzkopf, Stephan Roth, Wenzhu Liu, Yu Liu, Weiguo Zhu, Peter Mueller-Buschbaum
Summary: A novel process-aid solid (PAS) engineering with asymmetric configuration is proposed to improve the microphase separation and component distribution of organic solar cells, leading to enhanced exciton splitting and charge collection efficiency.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chunhui Liu, Jinfeng Liu, Xiaopeng Duan, Yanming Sun
Summary: The development of environmentally friendly processes for high-performance OSCs is crucial. Recent studies have focused on using non-chlorinated solvents to dissolve Y-series acceptor-based photoactive layers, enabling green fabrication. This comprehensive review provides an overview of recent progress in green-processed OSCs based on Y-series acceptors, inspiring researchers to develop new ideas and approaches in this important field.
Article
Chemistry, Organic
Linhua Zhang, Zihao Xia, Jing Wen, Jianhong Gao, Xiang Gao, Zhitian Liu
Summary: The study demonstrates that fluorination of PDIs can improve the performance of organic solar cells and enhance the power conversion efficiency. Fluorination results in downshifted energy levels and greatly blue shifted absorption spectrum. The fluorinated PDI dimer di-PDI-2F shows better performance when paired with a medium band-gap donor PM6.
ASIAN JOURNAL OF ORGANIC CHEMISTRY
(2021)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Ai Lan, Jintao Zhu, Zhuohan Zhang, Yifan Lv, Hong Lu, Ningxin Zhao, Hainam Do, Zhi-Kuan Chen, Fei Chen
Summary: Incorporating ITIC derivatives as guest acceptors into binary host systems is an effective strategy for constructing high-performance ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs). In this work, A-D-A type ITIC derivatives PTBTT-4F and PTBTP-4F were introduced into the PM6:BTP-BO-4F binary blend, and their impact on TOSC performance was investigated. Different device performances were observed, with PTBTT-4F ternary devices exhibiting an improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.67% and PTBTP-4F-based ternary devices yielding a relatively lower PCE of 16.34%.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Guanqing Zhou, Ming Zhang, Jinqiu Xu, Yankang Yang, Tianyu Hao, Lei Zhu, Libo Zhou, Haiming Zhu, Yecheng Zou, Gang Wei, Yongming Zhang, Feng Liu
Summary: The current research reveals the unique photo physical properties and carrier generation mechanisms of high efficiency non-fullerene acceptor-based organic photovoltaic blends. The primary photon excitons can dissociate into charge carriers in Y6 with a fast time scale and high polaron yields. Additionally, Y6 has a large exciton diffusion length, enabling high morphology tolerance.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Qing Yang, Xuan Liu, Shuwen Yu, Zhendong Feng, Lixin Liang, Wei Qin, Youyang Wang, Xiaobo Hu, Shaoqiang Chen, Zhaochi Feng, Guangjin Hou, Kaifeng Wu, Xin Guo, Can Li
Summary: The use of IT-DOH as a acceptor material has successfully improved the performance of i-PSCs, achieving a high conversion efficiency of 22.09%.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Safakath Karuthedath, Julien Gorenflot, Yuliar Firdaus, Neha Chaturvedi, Catherine S. P. De Castro, George T. Harrison, Jafar I. Khan, Anastasia Markina, Ahmed H. Balawi, Top Archie Dela Pena, Wenlan Liu, Ru-Ze Liang, Anirudh Sharma, Sri H. K. Paleti, Weimin Zhang, Yuanbao Lin, Erkki Alarousu, Dalaver H. Anjum, Pierre M. Beaujuge, Stefaan De Wolf, Iain McCulloch, Thomas D. Anthopoulos, Derya Baran, Denis Andrienko, Frederic Laquai
Summary: In bulk heterojunction organic solar cells based on low-bandgap non-fullerene acceptors, ultrafast donor-to-acceptor energy transfer precedes hole transfer, and an ionization energy offset of about 0.5 eV is required for efficient charge separation.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Christina Cheng, Stephen Wong, Garrett LeCroy, Sebastian Schneider, Enrique Gomez, Michael F. Toney, Alberto Salleo
Summary: The performance of nonfullerene-based organic solar cells is influenced by the morphology of the donor:acceptor blend, which is controlled by the composition. However, it is challenging to identify morphological design rules due to the complex relationship between composition-dependent phase behavior and device properties. In this study, the authors establish a direct link between PM6:Y6 film morphology and device properties by combining X-ray scattering and photocurrent spectroscopy. The results reveal that the charge transfer state at the amorphous-PM6:crystalline-Y6 interfaces controls the open-circuit voltage.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Sambathkumar Balasubramanian, Miguel AAngel Leon-Luna, Beatriz Romero, Morten Madsen, Vida Turkovic
Summary: The introduction of vitamin C into organic solar cells as a photostabilizer successfully suppresses the photocatalytic effect of ZnO and improves the photostability of the devices. After 96 hours of exposure to solar irradiation, devices with vitamin C only lost 38% of their initial efficiency compared to 64% in reference devices. The presence of vitamin C reduces the photobleaching of NFA molecules and inhibits charge recombination.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shihao Chen, Ling Hong, Minghao Dong, Wanyuan Deng, Lin Shao, Yuanqing Bai, Kai Zhang, Chunchen Liu, Hongbin Wu, Fei Huang
Summary: The study demonstrates the effectiveness of a self-stratification strategy involving a novel small-molecule acceptor in improving the vertical morphology and performance of organic solar cells. It achieves a higher power conversion efficiency and improved charge transport and collection.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Lorena Perdigon-Toro, Le Quang Phuong, Fabian Eller, Guillaume Freychet, Elifnaz Saglamkaya, Jafar Khan, Qingya Wei, Stefan Zeiske, Daniel Kroh, Stefan Wedler, Anna Koehler, Ardalan Armin, Frederic Laquai, Eva M. Herzig, Yingping Zou, Safa Shoaee, Dieter Neher
Summary: This study investigates the role of energetic disorder in the blends of PM6 and Y-series NFAs. The results show that energetic disorder affects both the value and temperature dependence of the open-circuit voltage. The PM6:Y6 blend benefits from its narrower state distribution.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Tianran Liu, Quinn C. Burlingame, Marko R. Ivancevic, Xiao Liu, Junnan Hu, Barry P. Rand, Yueh-Lin Loo
Summary: In this study, the photostability of films and solar cells comprising Y-series non-fullerene acceptors were investigated. UV and near-UV photons were found to be responsible for the degradation of acceptors, leading to early performance losses in solar cells. The weak point in the Y-series acceptors susceptible to UV-induced cleavage was identified as the vinylene linkage between the core and electron-accepting moieties. The efficiency losses in organic photovoltaic cells were attributed to the formation of traps, reducing charge extraction efficiency and facilitating non-radiative recombination as the Y-series acceptors degrade.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Ye Xu, Jingwen Wang, Tao Zhang, Zhihao Chen, Kaihui Xian, Zi Li, Yang-Hui Luo, Long Ye, Xiaotao Hao, Huifeng Yao, Jianhui Hou
Summary: A new alternating copolymer donor was designed for all-polymer solar cells, and the addition of a small-molecule acceptor improved the power conversion efficiency and blend morphology.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yuzhong Chen, Tao Liu, Lik-Kuen Ma, Wenyue Xue, Ruijie Ma, Jianquan Zhang, Chao Ma, Ha Kyung Kim, Han Yu, Fujin Bai, Kam Sing Wong, Wei Ma, He Yan, Yingping Zou
Summary: In this work, the effects of alkoxy-substitution on two well-known non-fullerene acceptors, IDT-series and Y-series acceptors, were investigated. The resulting molecules, IDTN-O and Y6-O, exhibited altered properties compared to the original acceptors, resulting in improved device performance. The alkoxy substitution led to enhanced open-circuit voltage and better blend morphology, ultimately optimizing the performance of the devices based on IDTN and Y6.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Fangfang Huang, Zhixiang Li, Guangkun Song, Changzun Jiang, Yang Yang, Jian Wang, Xiangjian Wan, Chenxi Li, Zhaoyang Yao, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: Atomic replacement on platforms of nonfullerene acceptor (NFA) can optimize the performance and enhance energy levels, absorptions, and charge transfer dynamics. The newly developed NFA FOSe-2Cl, which replaces sulfur atoms with selenium atoms, shows improved energy levels, redshifted absorption, enhanced molecular packing, and accelerated charge transfer/transport dynamics compared to FO-2Cl. The organic solar cell based on FOSe-2Cl achieves a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.94% and reduced energy loss (E-loss) of 0.670 eV.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Shitong Li, Zheng Xiao, Juan-Juan Li, Zong-Ying Hu, Yang Yang, Bin Kan, Dong-Sheng Guo, Xiangjian Wan, Zhaoyang Yao, Chenxi Li, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: This study used calixarenes as tuning agents to adjust the organic-inorganic interface and improve the performance and stability of ZnO-based inverted OSCs. The results showed that calixarenes could enhance the power conversion efficiency, photostability, and thermal stability of inverted OSCs.
SCIENCE CHINA-CHEMISTRY
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xiaobo Zhou, Hongbo Wu, Urvashi Bothra, Xingze Chen, Guanyu Lu, Heng Zhao, Chao Zhao, Qun Luo, Guanghao Lu, Ke Zhou, Dinesh Kabra, Zaifei Ma, Wei Ma
Summary: By optimizing the morphology through a layer-by-layer (LBL) processing strategy, low leakage current and low non-radiative recombination loss can be achieved in PM6:Y6-O based devices. The optimized morphology results in a reduced voltage loss and an impressive fill factor (FF) of 81.5%, leading to a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 31.2% under 1000 lux LED illumination, which is the best reported efficiency for indoor OPVs. This LBL strategy also shows great universality in promoting the performance of indoor OPVs with other non-fullerene acceptor systems.
MATERIALS HORIZONS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Shuchao Zhang, Hongbin Chen, Peiran Wang, Shitong Li, Zhixiang Li, Yuzhong Huang, Jian Liu, Zhaoyang Yao, Chenxi Li, Xiangjian Wan, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: A non-fullerene acceptor CH7 with extended conjugation and long-branched side chains is introduced for the fabrication of high-performance organic solar modules. The use of long-branched alkyl chains ensures good solubility of CH7 in non-halogen solvent OX and suppresses molecular aggregation. A prototype device utilizing PM6:CH7 and processed with OX exhibits a promising power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.49% due to favorable active layer morphology. A 25.2 cm(2) module fabricated from OX shows a high PCE of 14.42% and good photo stability, maintaining 93% of its initial efficiency after 500 h of continuous illumination.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Zhe Zhang, Zhixiang Li, Peiran Wang, Hongbin Chen, Kangqiao Ma, Yunxin Zhang, Tainan Duan, Chenxi Li, Zhaoyang Yao, Bin Kan, Xiangjian Wan, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: Developing new polymerized small molecular acceptor (PSMA) is crucial for improving the performance of all-polymer solar cells. Two PSMAs (namely PZC16 and PZC17) are reported based on the newly developed CH-series small molecule acceptors. Non-aromatic conjugated units are adopted as the linkers to reduce molecular torsion. The PM6:PZC17-based devices exhibit significantly higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) compared to PM6:PZC16-based devices, and the large area device achieves an excellent PCE of 15.14%, among the top performance for reported all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs).
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Huazhe Liang, Hongbin Chen, Peiran Wang, Yu Zhu, Yunxin Zhang, Wanying Feng, Kangqiao Ma, Yi Lin, Zaifei Ma, Guankui Long, Chenxi Li, Bin Kan, Zhaoyang Yao, Hongtao Zhang, Xiangjian Wan, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: Peripheral halogen regulations can enhance the performance of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) and improve the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs). By swapping halogens on multiple positions, a preferred NFA of CH23 is created with increased molecular dipole moment, packing density, and relative dielectric constant. As a result, the CH23-based binary OSC achieves an excellent efficiency of 18.77%, surpassing the control OSC of CH14 with 17.81%. This work demonstrates the potential to achieve state-of-the-art OSCs by delicately regulating the halogen formula on newly explored CH-series NFAs.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Kangqiao Ma, Wanying Feng, Huazhe Liang, Hongbin Chen, Yuxin Wang, Xiangjian Wan, Zhaoyang Yao, Chenxi Li, Bin Kan, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: This study reports three small-molecule donors with alkylated thiazole side groups and investigates their performance in organic solar cells. The elongation of the alkyl side chain affects the crystallinity and miscibility, leading to different degrees of phase separation after blending with BTP-eC9. The HD-1-based device shows the best performance with proper phase separation and dynamic carrier behavior, achieving an outstanding power conversion efficiency of 17.19%.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Tianyi Chen, Shuixing Li, Yaokai Li, Zeng Chen, Haotian Wu, Yi Lin, Yuan Gao, Mengting Wang, Guanyu Ding, Jie Min, Zaifei Ma, Haiming Zhu, Lijian Zuo, Hongzheng Chen
Summary: A mixed diluent strategy, involving high bandgap NFA (BTP-S17) and low bandgap NFA (BTP-S16), is proposed to improve the device efficiency of organic photovoltaics (OPVs). The combination of BTP-S17 and BTP-S16 enables a better compromise between charge generation and recombination, leading to a high device performance of 19.76%.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Hailin Pan, Jie Wang, Zhi Chen, Ziqi Su, Zheng Tang, Zaifei Ma
Summary: The impact of surface modification by insulating polymers on the ultraviolet-enhanced conductivity of non-atomically doped ZnO films is investigated. Polymer modifiers rich in amino and hydroxyl groups are effective in increasing the concentration of oxygen vacancies and the conductivity of the films. The highest conductivity achieved is over 1000 S cm(-1) using polyethylenimine ethoxylated as the modifier for NAD-ZnO films. Replacement of ITO in organic photovoltaic devices with a ZnO/PEIE electrode is successfully realized, and the devices exhibit comparable or better performance than ITO-based devices.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Mengyang Li, Hongbo Wu, Jing Wang, Zheng Tang, Zaifei Ma
Summary: This study investigates the limitation of open-circuit voltage in organic solar cells utilizing fluorinated acceptors. The reduced voltage is primarily attributed to increased voltage losses and declined external quantum efficiency of electroluminescence. It is found that the limited performance is a result of deteriorated molecular packing and elevated reorganization energy. A strategy involving acceptor sidechain modifications is proposed to address these issues.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Qing Shen, Chengliang He, Baohua Wu, Yi Lin, Shuaishuai Chen, Jian Gao, Shuixing Li, Zaifei Ma, Wei Ma, Minmin Shi, Yongfang Li, Hongzheng Chen
Summary: In this study, four NFREAs with different molecular structures, energetic levels, spectral coverages, and crystallinity were used to pair with the polymer donor J52. By regulating the terminal and side chains of NFREAs, enhanced intramolecular charge transfer, reduced energetic offset, and strengthened crystallinity were achieved, resulting in a J52:O-PC-EH-based OSC with the best efficiency of 14.4%.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Materials Science, Multidisciplinary
Liwen Wang, Cai'e Zhang, Zhiyi Su, Yikai Wang, Wenli Su, Xuyan Man, Zaifei Ma, Wenkai Zhang, Cuihong Li, Chuluo Yang, Zhishan Bo
Summary: By modifying the end groups and side chains, four nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) based on 10,11-dihydrodiindeno[1,2-b:2',1'-d]thiophene (DIDT) were synthesized, with tunable HOMO offsets of 0, 0.03, 0.04, and 0.06 eV when blended with PBDB-T. It was found that a near zero HOMO offset can achieve efficient charge separation and low voltage loss in organic solar cells (OSCs).
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY C
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hongbin Chen, Zhe Zhang, Peiran Wang, Yunxin Zhang, Kangqiao Ma, Yi Lin, Tainan Duan, Tengfei He, Zaifei Ma, Guankui Long, Chenxi Li, Bin Kan, Zhaoyang Yao, Xiangjian Wan, Yongsheng Chen
Summary: Compared to linear NFAs, multi-dimensional NFAs with extended conjugated structures in multiple directions show potential for improving absorption, molecular packing, and charge transport dynamics in organic solar cells. In this study, a conjugated-skeleton connection mode is developed, extending linear molecular structures towards three-dimensions. The resulting 3D NFAs exhibit low reorganization energy, fibrillar network film morphology, enhanced charge transport behavior, and improved stability. By optimizing the molecular geometry using fluorine-induced noncovalent conformational locks, a remarkable efficiency of 17.05% is achieved in binary bulk-heterojunction OSCs based on CH8-1, which represents the highest value for multi-dimensional acceptors to date. This work paves the way for further molecular structural optimization of state-of-the-art NFAs.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hongbo Wu, Zaifei Ma, Mengyang Li, Hao Lu, Ailing Tang, Erjun Zhou, Jin Wen, Yanming Sun, Wolfgang Tress, Jogvan Magnus Haugaard Olsen, Simone Meloni, Zhishan Bo, Zheng Tang
Summary: Donor halogenation improves the performance of organic solar cells by increasing the energy of the charge transfer state and reducing reorganization energy. The impact of donor halogenation varies depending on the acceptor type, with stronger effects observed for Y-series acceptors. Halogen substitution on side groups of the donor molecule is more effective in reducing voltage losses.
ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE
(2023)
