Influence of Donor Polymer on the Molecular Ordering of Small Molecular Acceptors in Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells

Huawei Hu; Kui Jiang; Philip C. Y. Chow; Long Ye; Guangye Zhang; Zhengke Li; Joshua H. Carpenter; Harald Ade; He Yan

doi:10.1002/aenm.201701674

Influence of Donor Polymer on the Molecular Ordering of Small Molecular Acceptors in Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells

Huawei Hu, Kui Jiang, Philip C. Y. Chow, Long Ye, Guangye Zhang, Zhengke Li, Joshua H. Carpenter, Harald Ade^*, He Yan^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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

73 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on polymer donors and non-fullerene small molecular acceptors (SMAs) have recently attracted considerable attention. Although much of the progress is driven by the development of novel SMAs, the donor polymer also plays an important role in achieving efficient nonfullerene PSCs. However, it is far from clear how the polymer donor choice influences the morphology and performance of the SMAs and the nonfullerene blends. In addition, it is challenging to carry out quantitative analysis of the morphology of polymer: SMA blends, due to the low material contrast and overlapping scattering features of the π-π stacking between the two organic components. Here, a series of nonfullerene blends is studied based on ITIC-Th blended with five different donor polymers. Through quantitative morphology analysis, the (010) coherence length of the SMA is characterized and a positive correlation between the coherence length of the SMA and the device fill factor (FF) is established. The study reveals that the donor polymer can significantly change the molecular ordering of the SMA and thus improve the electron mobility and domain purity of the blend, which has an overall positive effect that leads to the enhanced device FF for nonfullerene PSCs.

Original language	English
Article number	1701674
Number of pages	9
Journal	Advanced Energy Materials
Volume	8
Issue number	5
Online published	4 Oct 2017
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201701674
Publication status	Published - 15 Feb 2018
Externally published	Yes

Funding

The work described in this paper was partially supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program Project Nos. 2013CB834701 and 2014CB643501), the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project Nos. T23-407/13 N, N_HKUST623/13, 16305915, 16322416, and 606012), HK JEBN Limited, HKUST president's office (Project FP201), the National Science Foundation of China (#21374090), and Hong Kong Innovation and Technology Commission (ITC-CNERC14SC01 and ITS/083/15). X-ray data acquisition and manuscript input by NCSU authors supported by ONR Grant No. N000141512322 and a Research Opportunity Initiative (ROI) Grant of the University of North Carolina General Administration. X-ray data were acquired at Advanced Light Source, which was supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231. X. Jiao and S. Mukherjee are acknowledged for assisting with the measurements and data acquisition. C. Wang and C. Zhu are acknowledged for help with X-ray experimental setup and maintenance of the beamlines.

UN SDGs

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

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

coherence length
morphology
polymer solar cells
small molecular acceptor
X-ray scattering
HIGH-EFFICIENCY
ELECTRON-ACCEPTOR
ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS
PERFORMANCE
ENERGY
RECOMBINATION
AGGREGATION
MORPHOLOGY
TRANSPORT
VOLTAGE

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title = "Influence of Donor Polymer on the Molecular Ordering of Small Molecular Acceptors in Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells",

abstract = "Nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on polymer donors and non-fullerene small molecular acceptors (SMAs) have recently attracted considerable attention. Although much of the progress is driven by the development of novel SMAs, the donor polymer also plays an important role in achieving efficient nonfullerene PSCs. However, it is far from clear how the polymer donor choice influences the morphology and performance of the SMAs and the nonfullerene blends. In addition, it is challenging to carry out quantitative analysis of the morphology of polymer: SMA blends, due to the low material contrast and overlapping scattering features of the π-π stacking between the two organic components. Here, a series of nonfullerene blends is studied based on ITIC-Th blended with five different donor polymers. Through quantitative morphology analysis, the (010) coherence length of the SMA is characterized and a positive correlation between the coherence length of the SMA and the device fill factor (FF) is established. The study reveals that the donor polymer can significantly change the molecular ordering of the SMA and thus improve the electron mobility and domain purity of the blend, which has an overall positive effect that leads to the enhanced device FF for nonfullerene PSCs.",

keywords = "coherence length, morphology, polymer solar cells, small molecular acceptor, X-ray scattering, HIGH-EFFICIENCY, ELECTRON-ACCEPTOR, ORGANIC PHOTOVOLTAICS, PERFORMANCE, ENERGY, RECOMBINATION, AGGREGATION, MORPHOLOGY, TRANSPORT, VOLTAGE",

author = "Huawei Hu and Kui Jiang and Chow, {Philip C. Y.} and Long Ye and Guangye Zhang and Zhengke Li and Carpenter, {Joshua H.} and Harald Ade and He Yan",

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language = "English",

volume = "8",

journal = "Advanced Energy Materials",

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AU - Hu, Huawei

AU - Jiang, Kui

AU - Chow, Philip C. Y.

AU - Ye, Long

AU - Zhang, Guangye

AU - Li, Zhengke

AU - Carpenter, Joshua H.

AU - Ade, Harald

AU - Yan, He

PY - 2018/2/15

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N2 - Nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on polymer donors and non-fullerene small molecular acceptors (SMAs) have recently attracted considerable attention. Although much of the progress is driven by the development of novel SMAs, the donor polymer also plays an important role in achieving efficient nonfullerene PSCs. However, it is far from clear how the polymer donor choice influences the morphology and performance of the SMAs and the nonfullerene blends. In addition, it is challenging to carry out quantitative analysis of the morphology of polymer: SMA blends, due to the low material contrast and overlapping scattering features of the π-π stacking between the two organic components. Here, a series of nonfullerene blends is studied based on ITIC-Th blended with five different donor polymers. Through quantitative morphology analysis, the (010) coherence length of the SMA is characterized and a positive correlation between the coherence length of the SMA and the device fill factor (FF) is established. The study reveals that the donor polymer can significantly change the molecular ordering of the SMA and thus improve the electron mobility and domain purity of the blend, which has an overall positive effect that leads to the enhanced device FF for nonfullerene PSCs.

AB - Nonfullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on polymer donors and non-fullerene small molecular acceptors (SMAs) have recently attracted considerable attention. Although much of the progress is driven by the development of novel SMAs, the donor polymer also plays an important role in achieving efficient nonfullerene PSCs. However, it is far from clear how the polymer donor choice influences the morphology and performance of the SMAs and the nonfullerene blends. In addition, it is challenging to carry out quantitative analysis of the morphology of polymer: SMA blends, due to the low material contrast and overlapping scattering features of the π-π stacking between the two organic components. Here, a series of nonfullerene blends is studied based on ITIC-Th blended with five different donor polymers. Through quantitative morphology analysis, the (010) coherence length of the SMA is characterized and a positive correlation between the coherence length of the SMA and the device fill factor (FF) is established. The study reveals that the donor polymer can significantly change the molecular ordering of the SMA and thus improve the electron mobility and domain purity of the blend, which has an overall positive effect that leads to the enhanced device FF for nonfullerene PSCs.

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Influence of Donor Polymer on the Molecular Ordering of Small Molecular Acceptors in Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells

Abstract

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Research Keywords

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