Alkyl Chain Tuning of Small Molecule Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Kui Jiang; Qingya Wei; Joshua Yuk Lin Lai; Zhengxing Peng; Ha Kyung Kim; Jun Yuan; Long Ye; Harald Ade; Yingping Zou; He Yan

doi:10.1016/j.joule.2019.09.010

Alkyl Chain Tuning of Small Molecule Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Kui Jiang, Qingya Wei, Joshua Yuk Lin Lai, Zhengxing Peng, Ha Kyung Kim, Jun Yuan, Long Ye, Harald Ade, Yingping Zou^*, He Yan^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Journal Publications and Reviews › RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal › peer-review

886 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The field of organic solar cells has seen rapid developments after the report of a high-efficiency (15.7%) small molecule acceptor (SMA) named Y6. In this paper, we design and synthesize a family of SMAs with an aromatic backbone identical to that of Y6 but with different alkyl chains to investigate the influence of alkyl chains on the properties and performance of the SMAs. First, we show that it is beneficial to use branched alkyl chains on the nitrogen atoms of the pyrrole motif of the Y6. In addition, the branching position of the alkyl chains also has a major influence on material and device properties. The SMA with 3rd-position branched alkyl chains (named N3) exhibits optimal solubility and electronic and morphological properties, thus yielding the best performance. Further device optimization using a ternary strategy allows us to achieve a high efficiency of 16.74% (and a certified efficiency of 16.42%).

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	3020-3033
Number of pages	14
Journal	Joule
Volume	3
Issue number	12
Online published	7 Oct 2019
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joule.2019.09.010
Publication status	Published - 18 Dec 2019
Externally published	Yes

Funding

Y.Z. acknowledges National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875286), the National Key Research & Development Projects of China (2017YFA0206600), and Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars of Hunan Province (2017JJ1029). K. J. and H.Y. acknowledge the Shen Zhen Technology and Innovation Commission (project numbers JCYJ20170413173814007, JCYJ20170818113905024), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Research Impact Fund R6021-18, project numbers 16305915, 16322416, 606012, and 16303917), and Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission for the support through projects ITC-CNERC14SC01 and ITS/471/18. Z.P., L.Y., and H.A. were supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research (ONR), under award no. N000141712204. X-ray data were acquired at the Advanced Light Source (beamlines 5.3.2.2, 7.3.3, and 11.0.1.2), which is a user facility of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (no. DE-AC02-05CH11231). C. Wang, C. Zhu, E. Schaible, and M. Marcus are appreciated for beamline maintenance and support.

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

POLYMER PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
DONOR POLYMER
ORIENTATION
PERFORMANCE
MISCIBILITY
DESIGN

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title = "Alkyl Chain Tuning of Small Molecule Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells",

abstract = "The field of organic solar cells has seen rapid developments after the report of a high-efficiency (15.7%) small molecule acceptor (SMA) named Y6. In this paper, we design and synthesize a family of SMAs with an aromatic backbone identical to that of Y6 but with different alkyl chains to investigate the influence of alkyl chains on the properties and performance of the SMAs. First, we show that it is beneficial to use branched alkyl chains on the nitrogen atoms of the pyrrole motif of the Y6. In addition, the branching position of the alkyl chains also has a major influence on material and device properties. The SMA with 3rd-position branched alkyl chains (named N3) exhibits optimal solubility and electronic and morphological properties, thus yielding the best performance. Further device optimization using a ternary strategy allows us to achieve a high efficiency of 16.74% (and a certified efficiency of 16.42%).",

keywords = "POLYMER PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS, DONOR POLYMER, ORIENTATION, PERFORMANCE, MISCIBILITY, DESIGN",

author = "Kui Jiang and Qingya Wei and Lai, {Joshua Yuk Lin} and Zhengxing Peng and Kim, {Ha Kyung} and Jun Yuan and Long Ye and Harald Ade and Yingping Zou and He Yan",

year = "2019",

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AU - Jiang, Kui

AU - Wei, Qingya

AU - Lai, Joshua Yuk Lin

AU - Peng, Zhengxing

AU - Kim, Ha Kyung

AU - Yuan, Jun

AU - Ye, Long

AU - Ade, Harald

AU - Zou, Yingping

AU - Yan, He

PY - 2019/12/18

Y1 - 2019/12/18

N2 - The field of organic solar cells has seen rapid developments after the report of a high-efficiency (15.7%) small molecule acceptor (SMA) named Y6. In this paper, we design and synthesize a family of SMAs with an aromatic backbone identical to that of Y6 but with different alkyl chains to investigate the influence of alkyl chains on the properties and performance of the SMAs. First, we show that it is beneficial to use branched alkyl chains on the nitrogen atoms of the pyrrole motif of the Y6. In addition, the branching position of the alkyl chains also has a major influence on material and device properties. The SMA with 3rd-position branched alkyl chains (named N3) exhibits optimal solubility and electronic and morphological properties, thus yielding the best performance. Further device optimization using a ternary strategy allows us to achieve a high efficiency of 16.74% (and a certified efficiency of 16.42%).

AB - The field of organic solar cells has seen rapid developments after the report of a high-efficiency (15.7%) small molecule acceptor (SMA) named Y6. In this paper, we design and synthesize a family of SMAs with an aromatic backbone identical to that of Y6 but with different alkyl chains to investigate the influence of alkyl chains on the properties and performance of the SMAs. First, we show that it is beneficial to use branched alkyl chains on the nitrogen atoms of the pyrrole motif of the Y6. In addition, the branching position of the alkyl chains also has a major influence on material and device properties. The SMA with 3rd-position branched alkyl chains (named N3) exhibits optimal solubility and electronic and morphological properties, thus yielding the best performance. Further device optimization using a ternary strategy allows us to achieve a high efficiency of 16.74% (and a certified efficiency of 16.42%).

KW - POLYMER PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS

KW - DONOR POLYMER

KW - ORIENTATION

KW - PERFORMANCE

KW - MISCIBILITY

KW - DESIGN

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DO - 10.1016/j.joule.2019.09.010

M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal

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VL - 3

SP - 3020

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JO - Joule

JF - Joule

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Alkyl Chain Tuning of Small Molecule Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

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UN SDGs

Research Keywords

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