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Vinylene-Inserted Asymmetric Polymer Acceptor with Absorption Approaching 1000 nm for Versatile Applications in All-Polymer Solar Cells and Photomultiplication-Type Polymeric Photodetectors

Qunping Fan (Co-first Author), Huiting Fu (Co-first Author), Ming Liu (Co-first Author), Jiyeon Oh, Xiaoling Ma, Francis R. Lin, Changduk Yang, Fujun Zhang*, Alex K-Y Jen*

*Corresponding author for this work

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

Abstract

The emerging polymerized small-molecule acceptors (PSMAs) with near-infrared (NIR) absorption have not only significantly boosted the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) but have also exhibited great potential for sensitive NIR polymeric photodetectors (PPDs). However, there is no report regarding PSMAs with photo-response that can approach 1000 nm, which is an important criterion for applications in NIR-responsive all-PSCs and PPDs. Herein, by unidirectionally inserting vinylene segments into a selenophene-rich polymer backbone to improve the electron-donating strength and quinoidal character, an asymmetric PSMA, namely, PY3Se-1V, was developed, which showed an extensively red-shifted absorption approaching 1000 nm. The PBDB-T:PY3Se-1V-based binary all-PSCs achieve a decent PCE of 13.2% and a record-high photocurrent density of 25.9 mA cm-2 due to the significantly broadened photo-response and efficient photon-to-electron conversion. More encouragingly, narrowband photomultiplication (PM)-type PPDs based on poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT):PY3Se-1V were developed, delivering an exceptionally high external quantum efficiency of 3680% and a responsivity of 28 A W-1 at an NIR peak of 960 nm under -50 V bias, which is reported for the first time in PM-type PPDs with a response approaching 1000 nm.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)26970-26977
Number of pages8
JournalACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Volume14
Issue number23
Online published3 Jun 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 15 Jun 2022

Funding

A.K.-Y.J. acknowledges the sponsorship of the Lee Shau-Kee Chair Professor. This work was supported by the APRC Grant of the City University of Hong Kong (9380086), the Office of Naval Research (N00014-20-1-2191), the GRF grant (11307621) from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, the Guangdong Major Project of Basic and Applied Basic Research (2019B030302007), the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory of Optoelectronic and Magnetic Functional Materials (2019B121205002), and the Fundamental Research (Discipline Arrangement) Project funding from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Committee (JCYJ20180507181718203).

UN SDGs

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

  1. SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
    SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Research Keywords

  • all-polymer solar cells
  • asymmetric polymer acceptors
  • near-infrared absorption
  • photomultiplication-type polymeric photodetectors
  • vinylene
  • 17-PERCENT EFFICIENCY

RGC Funding Information

  • RGC-funded

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