Article
Energy & Fuels
Wei Gao, Francis R. Lin, Alex K-Y Jen
Summary: This article focuses on the development of near-infrared nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) in organic solar cells (OSCs), discussing their molecular design strategies, structure-property-performance relationships, and the potential in fabricating ternary and tandem OSCs. Outlooks for future design of NIR NFAs are also provided, considering material stability and production cost based on current knowledge, in hope of aiding the further development of the field.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ganesh D. Sharma, Hemraj Dahiya, Manish Kumar Singh, Pengfei Li, Giriraj Chayal, Haijun Xu
Summary: In this study, a ternary polymer solar cell was fabricated and optimized, achieving an impressive power conversion efficiency of 15.96%. Compared to binary solar cells, the ternary cells showed significant improvements, attributed to increased exciton generation, higher energy transfer, and balanced electron and hole transport.
ACS APPLIED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yuntong Guo, Zhenyu Chen, Jinfeng Ge, Jintao Zhu, Jinna Zhang, Yuanyuan Meng, Qinrui Ye, Shijie Wang, Fei Chen, Wei Ma, Ziyi Ge
Summary: In this study, a pair of isomeric nonfullerene acceptors based on quinoxaline core were designed and synthesized. The positioning of the alkoxy chain was adjusted to enhance the π-π stacking distance and crystallinity, resulting in improved performance of the organic solar cells. The results demonstrate that fine-tuning the side chains can effectively improve the efficiency of organic solar cells.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Lingzhi Guo, Zishuo Xu, Xuechen Jiao, Qiqing Ruan, Xiangdong Xie, Biao Xiao, Qingduan Li, Yue-Peng Cai, Shengjian Liu
Summary: By incorporating a non-fullerene acceptor with lower electron affinity, narrower band gap, and improved propensity to crystallize as a third component in binary BHJ blends, ternary BHJ solar cells with higher efficiency were achieved. The optimized ternary BHJ films exhibited well-mixed acceptors phases and crystallite with favorable orientation, leading to more efficient exciton dissociation and improved charge transportation. The third component O-ITIC aided in reducing energy loss, increasing fill factor, and achieving the highest PCE of 16.5% in the optimized ternary devices.
ACS APPLIED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Yun Wang, Zhengli Zhang, Haoming Xu, Haoyun Deng, Mi Hu, Ting Yang, Junli Li
Summary: This study synthesized an acceptor-donor-acceptor structured small molecule ST10-CN-1 as the guest donor in ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) based on a PBDB-T:IT-M host binary system. Incorporating ST10-CN-1 broadened the absorption range of the active layer and improved the short-circuit current. Also, it regulated the morphology of the active layer and enhanced the exciton dissociation, charge transit, and charge collecting processes, leading to an excellent power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.5% for the ternary device. The formation of an alloylike state between PBDB-T and ST10-CN-1 contributed to the enhanced PCE.
Article
Nanoscience & Nanotechnology
Wenxu Liu, Hao Lu, Xiaoyun Xu, Hao Huang, Jianqi Zhang, Zheng Tang, Zhishan Bo
Summary: By incorporating a three-dimensional norbornenyl group into the terminals of nonfullerene acceptors, a novel design tactic was developed to achieve simultaneously higher energy charge-transfer state and lower energy loss, resulting in a 90 mV enhancement of open-circuit voltage in organic solar cells. The new design also improves charge carrier transport efficiency, short-circuit current density, and overall power conversion efficiency, marking an important breakthrough in the design of nonfullerene acceptor-based OSCs.
ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES
(2021)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Fan Feng, Pengchao Wang, Yonghai Li, Xichang Bao
Summary: The development of nonfullerene electron acceptors (NFEAs) is a significant advance in the field of organic solar cells (OSCs), and the pi-bridge engineering strategy plays a vital role in improving their performance. However, the efficiencies of pi-bridged acceptors still need improvement compared to their rigid counterparts. Despite the challenges, the intrinsic merits of pi-bridges provide great potential for breakthroughs in efficiency and expanding the applications of NFEAs.
MATERIALS CHEMISTRY FRONTIERS
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Dan Zhou, Jianru Wang, Zhentian Xu, Haitao Xu, Jianwei Quan, Jiawei Deng, Yubing Li, Yongfen Tong, Bin Hu, Lie Chen
Summary: Organic solar cells (OSCs) have made significant progress in recent years due to their low cost, lightweight, mechanical flexibility, and printable fabrication. The nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) play an important role in widening the absorption range, enhancing stability, and increasing the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of OSCs. As a result, NFAs have attracted increasing attention for their inherent advantages. Currently, the PCE of OSCs has been elevated to over 20%. Small molecule and polymer NFAs are crucial in OSCs.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Hai-Rui Bai, Qiaoshi An, Mengyun Jiang, Hwa Sook Ryu, Jie Yang, Xue-Jiao Zhou, Hong-Fu Zhi, Can Yang, Xiong Li, Han Young Woo, Jin-Liang Wang
Summary: By incorporating an asymmetric acceptor into binary blends, ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) were prepared. The good compatibility of two isogenous acceptors with similar chemical skeletons optimized the morphology and improved the photon absorption ability and energy level matching. The optimized ternary OSCs achieved high conversion efficiency and champion efficiency.
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Mukhamed L. Keshtov, Igor O. Konstantinov, Sergei A. Kuklin, Yingping Zou, Anupam Agrawal, Fang C. Chen, Ganesh D. Sharma
Summary: A new wide-bandgap conjugated D-A polymer, P106, was used as the donor in binary and ternary bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells, achieving power conversion efficiencies of 11.76% and 14.07% with nonfullerene acceptors DBTBT-IC and Y18-DMO. The device based on P106:Y18-DMO showed higher short-circuit current density, and ternary polymer solar cells with active layer (P106:DBTBT-IC:Y18-DMO) achieved a power conversion efficiency of 16.49% with low energy loss of 0.47 eV.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yunlong Ma, Ming Zhang, Shuo Wan, Pan Yin, Pengsong Wang, Dongdong Cai, Feng Liu, Qingdong Zheng
Summary: Controlling the molecular orientation of nonfullerene acceptors by adjusting side chains leads to improved device performance, with M3 showing higher efficiency compared to M32 when blended with a donor polymer such as PM6.
Review
Chemistry, Physical
Shreyam Chatterjee, Seihou Jinnai, Yutaka Ie
Summary: This review summarizes the critical evolution of various non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) in combination with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) in organic solar cells (OSCs) over the past decade, highlighting some important NFAs with new diversity and excellent performance. Additionally, it provides clear guidelines for further developing NFAs compatible with P3HT-based OSCs for future commercialization.
JOURNAL OF MATERIALS CHEMISTRY A
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Yilei Wu, Sebastian Schneider, Yue Yuan, Ryan M. Young, Tommaso Francese, Iram F. Mansoor, Peter J. Dudenas, Yusheng Lei, Enrique D. Gomez, Dean M. DeLongchamp, Mark C. Lipke, Giulia Galli, Michael R. Wasielewski, John B. Asbury, Michael F. Toney, Zhenan Bao
Summary: Molecular aggregation and crystallization during film coating are crucial for high-performing organic photovoltaics. The authors demonstrate that using twisted acceptor-donor-acceptor compounds leads to the formation of mostly amorphous phases in the as-cast film, which can be converted into more crystalline domains through thermal annealing. This design strategy improves the charge transport efficiency by achieving an optimal morphology.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Xuyu Gao, Huabin Wang, Zijing Li, Xianwang Tao, Xinsu Qin, Tianjian Yang, Xiaochen Song, Laju Bu, Guanghao Lu, Youtian Tao
Summary: Here, a simple fluorescent material TPA2O is introduced into both polymer:nonfullerene and polymer:fullerene blends to construct ternary organic solar cells. The addition of TPA2O significantly improves the power conversion efficiency and photocurrent in nonfullerene systems, while reduced efficiency is found in fullerene systems. The study also reveals the influence of TPA2O on the morphology of the devices and the enhanced thermal stability in nonfullerene devices.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Ian Pelse, Austin L. Jones, Lee J. Richter, John R. Reynolds
Summary: Control of polymer aggregation by selective introduction of backbone disorder through random copolymerization has been effective for optimizing the coating of fullerene-based bulk-heterojunction photovoltaics. A new terpolymer composition, PffBT4T(80)-co-3T(20)-2OD (80-20), shows good processability and solid-state performance when processing IDTBR blend films, achieving power conversion efficiencies approaching 9%. However, IDTBR delays polymer solidification, disrupts polymer crystallization, and compromises the overall crystallinity in the blend, leading to lower power conversion efficiencies compared to PC71BM devices.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Alicia Lund, G. Manohara, Ah-Young Song, Kevin Maik Jablonka, Christopher P. Ireland, Li Anne Cheah, Berend Smit, Susana Garcia, Jeffrey A. Reimer
Summary: This study investigates the characterization of Mg-Al mixed metal oxides for CO2 capture and provides new insights into the mechanism of CO2 adsorption at 200 degrees C.
CHEMISTRY OF MATERIALS
(2022)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Sizhuo Yang, Chongqing Yang, Chaochao Dun, Haiyan Mao, Rebecca Shu Hui Khoo, Liana M. Klivansky, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Jeffrey J. Urban, Jian Zhang, Yi Liu
Summary: Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) have shown great potential for various advanced applications due to their unique structure. Researchers have developed a synthetic approach that introduces nitrogen-containing heterocycles into COFs, leading to the introduction of new functionalities. This general strategy opens up possibilities for a broader range of functional porous crystalline materials.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
David M. Halat, Chao Fang, Darby Hickson, Aashutosh Mistry, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Nitash P. Balsara, Rui Wang
Summary: The study found that electric fields primarily result in migration of charged species in electrolytic solutions, and different solvation motifs and concentrations can affect the cation transference number. At a certain concentration, the dynamic heterogeneity of solvent molecules is minimized and the transference number approaches zero.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2022)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Xuncheng Liu, Christopher L. Anderson, Yi Liu
Summary: In the past 50 years, the donor-acceptor design principle has played a significant role in the discovery of organic electronics. However, the alternative strategy of joining quinoidal and aromatic groups in conjugation has received less attention due to poor stability. The introduction of p-azaquinodimethane (AQM) in 2017 has shown remarkable stability and potential for different applications in organic electronics.
ACCOUNTS OF CHEMICAL RESEARCH
(2023)
Review
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Jiyun Hu, Zhiyuan Huang, Yi Liu
Summary: Covalent organic frameworks (COFs) are crystalline porous organic materials with potential applications in various fields. However, the development of COFs is hindered by the lack of efficient synthetic methods. The traditional solvothermal approach faces challenges such as complicated processes, excessive energy consumption, long reaction times, and limited scalability, making it unsuitable for practical applications. This Review provides an overview of recent advances in alternative COF synthetic methods, focusing on energy input. Examples of COF synthesis using microwave, ultrasound, mechanic force, light, plasma, electric field, and electron beam are discussed, highlighting the advantages and limitations of these methods compared to the traditional solvothermal approach.
ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION
(2023)
Article
Electrochemistry
David M. Halat, Aashutosh Mistry, Darby Hickson, Venkat Srinivasan, Nitash P. Balsara, Jeffrey A. Reimer
Summary: Accurate measurement of cation transference number is crucial for battery design. Electrophoretic NMR (eNMR) is a promising method for measuring this parameter. In this study, we demonstrate that the cation transference number can be determined from individual species' velocities induced by an electric field. The results obtained from eNMR experiments on a model electrolyte are consistent with the standard approach after accounting for the electrode-electrolyte interface velocity.
JOURNAL OF THE ELECTROCHEMICAL SOCIETY
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Qi Zheng, Xian Shi, Jinyang Jiang, Haiyan Mao, Nicholas Montes, Nikolaos Kateris, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Hai Wang, Haimei Zheng
Summary: This study investigates the influences of small sizes and defects on cubic diamond nanostructures using transmission electron microscopy, electron diffraction, multislice simulations, and other techniques. The experimental and simulation results reveal that cubic nanodiamonds smaller than 5 nm and with defects can display forbidden reflections, providing insights into the structural complexity and the impact of defects on nanodiamond structures.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Yao Fu, Yifeng Yao, Alexander C. Forse, Jianhua Li, Kenji Mochizuki, Jeffrey R. Long, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Gael De Paepe, Xueqian Kong
Summary: Defects in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) have significant impact on their nanostructure and physicochemical properties. This study reveals the presence of formate defects in MOF-74 originating from decomposed solvent. The defects partially eliminate open metal sites and decrease gas adsorption, and the adsorption mechanism of CO2 in defective MOF-74 is elucidated through in-situ NMR analysis and molecular simulations.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2023)
Article
Energy & Fuels
Xing Wu, Yixuan Wu, Shichu Peng, Liangang Xiao, Zijie Xiao, Wei Zhang, Guoxing Ren, Yonggang Min, Yi Liu
Summary: The pre-aggregation behavior of D18 polymer in solution can be finely tuned and the microstructure of D18 bottom layer can be manipulated by controlling the solution temperature and annealing processes. The optimized D18 bottom layer effectively regulates the upper-layer L8-BO formation for efficient charge transportation and forms a vertical phase separation with a special D/D:A/A structure. As a result, bilayer OSC devices based on D18 polymer and L8-BO exhibit an enhanced power conversion efficiency of 18.02% with improved short-circuit current density, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor. The LBL deposition process utilizing polymer pre-aggregation and fiber-network formation shows promise in improving charge dynamics, suppressing carrier recombination, and fabricating highly efficient OSCs.
Article
Engineering, Environmental
Shichu Peng, Jinxin Luo, Peng Li, Liangang Xiao, Chongqing Yang, Yaocheng Jin, Ruiying Lin, Yanping Huo, Yi Liu, Yonggang Min
Summary: The miscibility between active layer materials is crucial in organic solar cells. This study demonstrates that by incorporating a third component with similar building blocks, the crystallization of BTR-Cl can be relieved and the film morphology can be improved, leading to enhanced photovoltaic efficiency.
CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Saheli Chakraborty, David M. Halat, Julia Im, Darby T. Hickson, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Nitash P. Balsara
Summary: One approach to improve lithium transfer in electrolytes is to use bulky multivalent anions. The study investigated a multivalent salt with a bulky star-shaped anion containing a polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) center and lithium counterions dissolved in a solvent. The self-diffusion coefficients of all species were measured using pulsed field gradient NMR (PFG-NMR). The results showed that anion diffusion was slower than cation diffusion, and the discrepancy between different methods for characterizing lithium transference implies complex cation-anion interactions in the solution.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Helen K. K. Bergstrom, Kara D. D. Fong, David M. M. Halat, Carl A. A. Karouta, Hasan C. C. Celik, Jeffrey A. A. Reimer, Bryan D. D. McCloskey
Summary: Polyelectrolyte solutions (PESs) have been proposed as high conductivity, high lithium transference number (t(+)) electrolytes. However, increasing the anion charge decreases t(+) due to competing effects. In this study, ion mobilities in a model non-aqueous PESs were directly measured using electrophoretic Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (eNMR). It was found that below the entanglement limit, both conductivity and t(+) decrease with increasing degree of polymerization. Additionally, negative transference numbers were observed for polyanions with 10 or more repeat units, indicating ion clustering. Understanding ion correlations is important for designing concentrated electrolytes for improved battery performance.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Chao Fang, David M. Halat, Aashutosh Mistry, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Nitash P. Balsara, Rui Wang
Summary: In this study, we used electrophoretic NMR (eNMR) measurements and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to examine the electric-field-induced transport in a concentrated solution of LiPF6 salt dissolved in an ethylene carbonate/ethyl methyl carbonate (EC/EMC) mixture. It was found that ethylene carbonate (EC) exhibited selective transport compared to ethyl methyl carbonate (EMC) due to its preferential solvation of cations and its dynamic consequences. Molecular simulations also revealed the presence of various transient solvent-containing clusters migrating at different velocities. This study highlights the importance of considering the presence of four species in mixed-solvent electrolytes.
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Jifa Wu, Feng Tang, Shaoguang Wu, Yumeng Li, Liangang Xiao, Xuhui Zhu, Xiaobin Peng
Summary: This study introduces the use of a small molecule Phen-NaDPO to modify the tin oxide electron-transport layer in organic solar cells. The modification effectively passivates surface defects, reduces work function, and improves electrical conductivity, leading to enhanced electron extraction and transport. The modified devices also exhibit exceptional stability in various environmental conditions.
ADVANCED ENERGY MATERIALS
(2023)
Article
Chemistry, Physical
Darby T. Hickson, David M. Halat, Alec S. Ho, Jeffrey A. Reimer, Nitash P. Balsara
Summary: Improving the transport properties of electrolytes is crucial for the development of lithium-ion batteries. This study combines electrochemical methods and electrophoretic NMR to accurately determine the transport parameters of electrolytes, providing a robust approach for complete characterization of battery electrolytes.
PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY CHEMICAL PHYSICS
(2022)
