A New Conjugated Polymer that Enables the Integration of Photovoltaic and Light-Emitting Functions in One Device

Exploring the intriguing bifunctional nature of organic semiconductors and investigating the feasibility of fabricating bifunctional devices are of great significance in realizing various applications with one device. Here, the design of a new wide-bandgap polymer named PBQx-TCl (optical bandgap of 2.05 eV) is reported, and its applications in photovoltaic and light-emitting devices are studied. By fabricating devices with nonfullerene acceptors BTA3 and BTP-eC9, it is shown that the devices exhibit a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.0% under air mass 1.5G illumination conditions and an outstanding PCE of 28.5% for a 1 cm(2) device and 26.0% for a 10 cm(2) device under illumination from a 1000 lux light-emitting diode. In addition, the PBQx-TCl:BTA3-based device also demonstrates a moderate organic light-emitting diode performance with an electroluminescence external quantum efficiency approaching 0.2% and a broad emission range of 630-1000 nm. These results suggest that the polymer PBQx-TCl-based devices exhibit outstanding photovoltaic performance and potential light-emitting functions.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the design and application of a new wide-bandgap polymer, PBQx-TCl, in photovoltaic and light-emitting devices. Devices fabricated with nonfullerene acceptors show high power conversion efficiency under various lighting conditions, showcasing the potential of PBQx-TCl-based devices in both photovoltaic and light-emitting functions.