A polymer acceptor with double-decker configuration enhances molecular packing for high-performance all-polymer solar cells

Han Yu*, Yan Wang, Chung Hang Kwok, Rongkun Zhou, Zefan Yao, Subhrangsu Mukherjee, Aleksandr Sergeev, Haixia Hu, Yuang Fu, Ho Ming Ng, Li Chen, Di Zhang, Dahui Zhao, Zilong Zheng, Xinhui Lu, Hang Yin, Kam Sing Wong, Harald Ade, Chen Zhang*, Zonglong Zhu*He Yan*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and ReviewsRGC 21 - Publication in refereed journalpeer-review

33 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) have seen rapid progress enabled by the development of high-performance polymer acceptors. Most polymer acceptors are based on the monomers of a classic small molecular acceptor (SMA) named Y6 by polymerizing at the position of the end groups, forming an “end-to-end” linkage. In this work, we report a completely different “core-to-core” linking mode by polymerizing the Y-series monomers at the central core position instead. This innovative strategy results in a drastically altered molecular configuration that resembles a “double decker,” with intramolecular packing between different monomer units in the same polymer. The overall molecular packing is improved, benefiting charge delocalization and charge transport. As a result, the PffBQx-T-based ternary blend achieved an outstanding efficiency of 18.7%, attributed to the enhanced absorption response, improved packing, and efficient charge dynamics. Our work demonstrates a novel polymer design rationale that serves as a promising avenue toward highly efficient and stable all-PSCs. © 2024 Elsevier Inc.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2304-2324
JournalJoule
Volume8
Issue number8
Online published9 Jul 2024
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 21 Aug 2024

Funding

H. Yu, Y.W., C.H.K., R.Z., and Z.Y. contributed equally to this work. H. Yan appreciates the support from the National Key Research and Development Program of China (no. 2019YFA0705900) funded by MOST, the Basic and Applied Research Major Program of Guangdong Province (no. 2019B030302007), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 22075057), the Shen Zhen Technology and Innova-tion Commission through (Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program, JCYJ20200109140801751), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (research fellow scheme RFS2021-6S05, RIF project R6021-18, CRF project C6023-19G, GRF project 16310019, 16310020, 16309221, 16309822), Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITCCNERC14SC01) and Foshan-HKUST (project no. FSUST19-CAT0202), Zhongshan Munic-ipal Bureau of Science and Technology (no. ZSST20SC02), Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory (no. 2023B1212120003) and Tencent Xplorer Prize. H. Yu appreciates the support from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (GRF project 16303024, 16310824). H.A. and S.M. are supported by ONR grant N000142012155. S.M. and H.A. acknowledge Goodnight Innovation Dist. Professor Endowment for X-ray data acquisition. GIWAXS data were acquired at the beamline BL 7.3.3. of the Advanced Light Source, which is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract DE-AC02-05CH11231. Eric Schaible (BL7.3.3, ALS) is gratefully acknowledged for beamline maintenance as well as assistance with GIWAXS experiments.

Research Keywords

  • all-polymer solar cells
  • double-decker structures
  • intramolecular interaction
  • polymerized acceptors
  • quinoxaline
  • rigid conformation
  • ternary organic solar cells

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