A highly crystalline non-fullerene acceptor enabling efficient indoor organic photovoltaics with high EQE and fill factor

The growth of the internet of things (IoT) is creating a demand for convenient energy sources, like organic photovoltaics, to power various small loT devices. Here, we report a highly crystalline small molecular acceptor (named FCC-Cl) with an optical band gap of 1.71 eV suitable for indoor applications, The important design rationale of FCC-Cl is the combination of a weak electron-donating core and a moderate electron-withdrawing end group, which leads to needed band gap and high crystallinity. The OPVs based on D18:FCC-Cl achieved a high external quantum efficiency up to 85% and a high fill factor of 80% due to the high absorption coefficient and strong crystallinity of FCC-Cl. Consequently, an impressive power conversion efficiency of 28.8% was achieved under a 2,600 K LED lamp at 500 lux, It was also demonstrated that PM6:FCC-Cl-based devices can achieve high efficiencies over a wide range of active-layer thicknesses, which is a feature necessary for large-scale roll-to-roll printing processes.

Automated summary

A highly crystalline small molecular acceptor named FCC-Cl with an optical band gap of 1.71 eV is reported for indoor applications, achieving high external quantum efficiency and fill factor in OPVs. The devices based on D18:FCC-Cl demonstrated an impressive power conversion efficiency of 28.8% under 2,600 K LED lighting, and can achieve high efficiencies over a wide range of active-layer thicknesses, suitable for large-scale roll-to-roll printing processes.