Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics

Baobing Fan; Wei Gao; Xuanhao Wu; Xinxin Xia; Yue Wu; Francis R. Lin; Qunping Fan; Xinhui Lu; Wen Jung Li; Wei Ma; Alex K.-Y. Jen

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33754-3

Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics

Baobing Fan (Co-first Author), Wei Gao (Co-first Author), Xuanhao Wu, Xinxin Xia, Yue Wu, Francis R. Lin, Qunping Fan, Xinhui Lu, Wen Jung Li, Wei Ma, Alex K.-Y. Jen^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

90 Citations (Scopus)

53 Downloads (CityUHK Scholars)

Abstract

Power conversion efficiency and long-term stability are two critical metrics for evaluating the commercial potential of organic photovoltaics. Although the field has witnessed a rapid progress of efficiency towards 19%, the intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is still a challenging issue for bulk-heterojunction cells due to the very delicate crystallization dynamics of organic species. Herein, we developed a class of non-fullerene acceptors with varied side groups as an alternative to aliphatic chains. Among them, the acceptors with conjugated side groups show larger side-group torsion and more twisted backbone, however, they can deliver an efficiency as high as 18.3% in xylene-processed cells, which is among the highest values reported for non-halogenated solvent processed cells. Meanwhile, decent thermal/photo stability is realized for these acceptors containing conjugated side groups. Through the investigation of the geometry-performance-stability relationship, we highlight the importance of side-group steric hinderance of acceptors in achieving combined high-performance, stable, and eco-friendly organic photovoltaics. © The Author(s) 2022.

Original language	English
Article number	5946
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	13
Online published	8 Oct 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33754-3
Publication status	Published - 2022

Funding

A.K.Y.J. thanks the sponsorship of the Lee Shau-Kee Chair Professor (Materials Science), and the support from the APRC Grant of the City University of Hong Kong (9380086), the TCFS Grant (GHP/018/20SZ) and MRP Grant (MRP/040/21X) from the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, the Green Tech Fund (202020164) from the Environment and Ecology Bureau of Hong Kong, the GRF grant (11307621) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the US Office of Naval Research (N00014-20-1-2191), the CRF grant (C6023- 19GF) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Guangdong Major Project of Basic 24 and Applied Basic Research (2019B030302007), and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials (2019B121205002).

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This full text is made available under CC-BY 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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title = "Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics",

abstract = "Power conversion efficiency and long-term stability are two critical metrics for evaluating the commercial potential of organic photovoltaics. Although the field has witnessed a rapid progress of efficiency towards 19%, the intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is still a challenging issue for bulk-heterojunction cells due to the very delicate crystallization dynamics of organic species. Herein, we developed a class of non-fullerene acceptors with varied side groups as an alternative to aliphatic chains. Among them, the acceptors with conjugated side groups show larger side-group torsion and more twisted backbone, however, they can deliver an efficiency as high as 18.3% in xylene-processed cells, which is among the highest values reported for non-halogenated solvent processed cells. Meanwhile, decent thermal/photo stability is realized for these acceptors containing conjugated side groups. Through the investigation of the geometry-performance-stability relationship, we highlight the importance of side-group steric hinderance of acceptors in achieving combined high-performance, stable, and eco-friendly organic photovoltaics. {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2022.",

author = "Baobing Fan and Wei Gao and Xuanhao Wu and Xinxin Xia and Yue Wu and Lin, {Francis R.} and Qunping Fan and Xinhui Lu and Li, {Wen Jung} and Wei Ma and Jen, {Alex K.-Y.}",

year = "2022",

doi = "10.1038/s41467-022-33754-3",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

journal = "Nature Communications",

issn = "2041-1723",

publisher = "Springer Nature",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics

AU - Fan, Baobing

AU - Gao, Wei

AU - Wu, Xuanhao

AU - Xia, Xinxin

AU - Wu, Yue

AU - Lin, Francis R.

AU - Fan, Qunping

AU - Lu, Xinhui

AU - Li, Wen Jung

AU - Ma, Wei

AU - Jen, Alex K.-Y.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Power conversion efficiency and long-term stability are two critical metrics for evaluating the commercial potential of organic photovoltaics. Although the field has witnessed a rapid progress of efficiency towards 19%, the intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is still a challenging issue for bulk-heterojunction cells due to the very delicate crystallization dynamics of organic species. Herein, we developed a class of non-fullerene acceptors with varied side groups as an alternative to aliphatic chains. Among them, the acceptors with conjugated side groups show larger side-group torsion and more twisted backbone, however, they can deliver an efficiency as high as 18.3% in xylene-processed cells, which is among the highest values reported for non-halogenated solvent processed cells. Meanwhile, decent thermal/photo stability is realized for these acceptors containing conjugated side groups. Through the investigation of the geometry-performance-stability relationship, we highlight the importance of side-group steric hinderance of acceptors in achieving combined high-performance, stable, and eco-friendly organic photovoltaics. © The Author(s) 2022.

AB - Power conversion efficiency and long-term stability are two critical metrics for evaluating the commercial potential of organic photovoltaics. Although the field has witnessed a rapid progress of efficiency towards 19%, the intrinsic trade-off between efficiency and stability is still a challenging issue for bulk-heterojunction cells due to the very delicate crystallization dynamics of organic species. Herein, we developed a class of non-fullerene acceptors with varied side groups as an alternative to aliphatic chains. Among them, the acceptors with conjugated side groups show larger side-group torsion and more twisted backbone, however, they can deliver an efficiency as high as 18.3% in xylene-processed cells, which is among the highest values reported for non-halogenated solvent processed cells. Meanwhile, decent thermal/photo stability is realized for these acceptors containing conjugated side groups. Through the investigation of the geometry-performance-stability relationship, we highlight the importance of side-group steric hinderance of acceptors in achieving combined high-performance, stable, and eco-friendly organic photovoltaics. © The Author(s) 2022.

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JO - Nature Communications

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Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics

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ITF: Development of Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cell with Safe-to-Use

ITF: Using High-Throughput Optical Model to Design High Performance Thin Film Structures for Next-Generation Glass Materials and Products

GRF: Rational Design and Synthesis of a New Class of Non-Fullerene Acceptors and Matched Donor Polymers for Highly Efficient Organic Photovoltaics

Cite this

Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics

Abstract

Funding

Publisher's Copyright Statement

RGC Funding Information

UN SDGs

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Projects

ITF: Development of Efficient and Stable Perovskite Solar Cell with Safe-to-Use

ITF: Using High-Throughput Optical Model to Design High Performance Thin Film Structures for Next-Generation Glass Materials and Products

GRF: Rational Design and Synthesis of a New Class of Non-Fullerene Acceptors and Matched Donor Polymers for Highly Efficient Organic Photovoltaics

Cite this