Compositional dependence of the open-circuit voltage in ternary blend bulk heterojunction solar cells based on two donor polymers

Ternary Polymer Solar Cells based on Two Acceptors and One Donor for Achieving 12.2% Efficiency

Ternary polymer solar cells are fabricated based on one donor PBDB-T and two acceptors (a methyl-modified small-molecular acceptor (IT-M) and a bis-adduct of Bis[70]PCBM). A high power conversion efficiency of 12.2% can be achieved. The photovoltaic performance of the ternary polymer solar cells is not sensitive to the composition of the blend.

Enhanced Photovoltaic Properties of Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaic Devices by an Addition of a Low Band Gap Conjugated Polymer

In this study, we fabricated organic photovoltaics (OPVs) by introducing the polymer additive HTh6BT into the photoactive layer of a poly(3-hexylthiophene):phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM) system. The HTh6BT had a relatively low band gap energy of 1.65 eV and a molecular and crystalline structure similar to that of P3HT. In the photoactive layer, the HTh6BT and P3HT can both act as donors. In such parallel-type bulk heterojunctions, each donor can form excitons and generate charges while being separated from the donor/acceptor interface. Changes in the photovoltaic property of the OPV device by the addition of HTh6BT were evaluated, and the optical characteristics of the photoactive layer, as well as the surface morphology, polymer ordering, and crystallinity of the P3HT:PCBM film were analyzed. Compared to a device without HTh6BT, all short-circuit current densities, open-circuit voltages, and fill factors were enhanced, leading to the enhancement of the power conversion efficiency by 36%.

Ternary Organic Solar Cells Based on Two Compatible Nonfullerene Acceptors with Power Conversion Efficiency >10

Two different nonfullerene acceptors and one copolymer are used to fabricate ternary organic solar cells (OSCs). The two acceptors show unique interactions that reduce crystallinity and form a homogeneous mixed phase in the blend film, leading to a high efficiency of ≈10.3%, the highest performance reported for nonfullerene ternary blends. This work provides a new approach to fabricate high-performance OSCs.

Influence of Surface Energy on Organic Alloy Formation in Ternary Blend Solar Cells Based on Two Donor Polymers

The compositional dependence of the open-circuit voltage (V_oc) in ternary blend bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells is correlated with the miscibility of polymers, which may be influenced by a number of attributes, including crystallinity, the random copolymer effect, or surface energy. Four ternary blend systems featuring poly(3-hexylthiophene-co-3-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene) (P3HT₇₅-co-EHT₂₅), poly(3-hexylthiophene-co-(hexyl-3-carboxylate)), herein referred to as poly(3-hexylthiophene-co-3-hexylesterthiophene) (P3HT₅₀-co-3HET₅₀), poly(3-hexylthiophene-thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) (P3HTT-DPP-10%), and an analog of P3HTT-DPP-10% with 40% of 3-hexylthiophene exchanged for 2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethylthiophen-2-yl (3MEO-T) (featuring an electronically decoupled oligoether side-chain), referred to as P3HTTDPP-MEO40%, are explored in this work. All four polymers are semicrystalline and rich in rr-P3HT content and perform well in binary devices with PC₆₁BM. Except for P3HTTDPP-MEO40%, all polymers exhibit similar surface energies (∼21-22 mN/m). P3HTTDPP-MEO40% exhibits an elevated surface energy of around 26 mN/m. As a result, despite the similar optoelectronic properties and binary solar cell performance of P3HTTDPP-MEO40% compared to P3HTT-DPP-10%, the former exhibits a pinned V_oc in two different sets of ternary blend devices. This is a stark contrast to previous rr-P3HT-based systems and demonstrates that surface energy, and its influence on miscibility, plays a critical role in the formation of organic alloys and can supersede the influence of crystallinity, the random copolymer effect, similar backbone structures, and HOMO/LUMO considerations. Therefore, we confirm surface energy compatibility as a figure-of-merit for predicting the compositional dependence of the V_oc in ternary blend solar cells and highlight the importance of polymer miscibility in organic alloy formation.

Extended Intermolecular Interactions Governing Photocurrent-Voltage Relations in Ternary Organic Solar Cells

Efficient organic solar cells are based on (electron) donor-acceptor heterojunctions. An optically generated excited molecular state (exciton) is dissociated at this junction, forming a charge-transfer (CT) state in an intermediate step before the electron and hole are completely separated. The observed highly efficient dissociation of this Coulombically bound state raises the question on the dissociation mechanism. Here, we show that the observed high quantum yields of charge carrier generation and CT state dissociation are due to extended (and consequently weakly bound) CT states visible in absorption and emission spectra and first-principles calculations. Identifying a new geminate-pair loss mechanism via donor excimers, we find that the hole on the small-molecule donor is not localized on a single molecule and charge separation is correlated with the energetic offset between excimer and CT states. Thus, the charges upon interface charge transfer and even in the case of back-transfer and recombination are less localized than commonly assumed.

11% Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells with High Composition Tolerance via Integrated Near-IR Sensitization and Interface Engineering

Highly efficient electron extraction is achieved by using a photoconductive cathode interlayer in inverted ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) where a near-IR absorbing porphyrin molecule is used as the sensitizer. The OSCs show improved device performance when the ratio of the two donors varies in a large region and a maximum power conversion efficiency up to 11.03% is demonstrated.

Surface Energy Modification of Semi-Random P3HTT-DPP

Alkyl solubilizing side chains on conjugated polymers can serve as a handle for modifying polymer properties. Recently, oligo-ether and semifluoro alkyl side chains were utilized to tune the surface energy of random P3HT-based polymers without changing the optical and electronic properties. Here, this method is applied to semi-random poly(3-hexylthiophene-thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) (P3HTT-DPP) and the subsequent polymer device, optical, electronic, structural, and thermal properties are characterized. P3HTMETT-DPP, bearing oligo-ether side chains, exhibited higher crystallinity, closer lamellar packing, and lower temperature thermal transitions. P3HTFHTT-DPP, featuring semifluoro alkyl side chains, presented reduced crystallinity, greater lamellar packing distances, and higher temperature thermal transitions. P3HTMETT-DPP performed similarly to P3HTT-DPP under identical processing conditions, whereas P3HTFHTT-DPP had greatly reduced J_SC due to lower polymer concentration necessitated by solubility.

Molecular Lock: A Versatile Key to Enhance Efficiency and Stability of Organic Solar Cells

4,4'-Biphenol (BPO), a common, cheap chemical, is employed as a "molecular lock" in blends of fluorine-containing polymer or small molecule donors and fullerene acceptors to lock donors via hydrogen bond formed between the donor and BPO. The molecular lock is a versatile key to enhance the efficiency and stability of organic solar cells simultaneously.

Band structure engineering in organic semiconductors

A key breakthrough in modern electronics was the introduction of band structure engineering, the design of almost arbitrary electronic potential structures by alloying different semiconductors to continuously tune the band gap and band-edge energies. Implementation of this approach in organic semiconductors has been hindered by strong localization of the electronic states in these materials. We show that the influence of so far largely ignored long-range Coulomb interactions provides a workaround. Photoelectron spectroscopy confirms that the ionization energies of crystalline organic semiconductors can be continuously tuned over a wide range by blending them with their halogenated derivatives. Correspondingly, the photovoltaic gap and open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells can be continuously tuned by the blending ratio of these donors.

Electronic Structure and Properties of Organic Bulk-Heterojunction Interfaces

The electronic structure and physical mechanisms of carrier generation and transport in the organic bulk heterojunction are reviewed. The electronic structure describes the bands and band-tail states, the band alignment at the bulk-heterojunction interface, and the overall density-of-states model. The different electronic character of excitons and mobile charge is discussed, the former being highly molecular and the latter more delocalized. Dissociation of the exciton via the charge-transfer (CT) states is attributed to weak binding of the CT state arising from charge delocalization. Carrier transport and charge collection is strongly influenced by the presence of localized band-tail states. Recombination is attributed primarily to transitions from mobile carriers to band-tail or deep trap states.

Recent Advances in Organic Photovoltaics: Device Structure and Optical Engineering Optimization on the Nanoscale

Organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices, which can directly convert absorbed sunlight to electricity, are stacked thin films of tens to hundreds of nanometers. They have emerged as a promising candidate for affordable, clean, and renewable energy. In the past few years, a rapid increase has been seen in the power conversion efficiency of OPV devices toward 10% and above, through comprehensive optimizations via novel photoactive donor and acceptor materials, control of thin-film morphology on the nanoscale, device structure developments, and interfacial and optical engineering. The intrinsic problems of short exciton diffusion length and low carrier mobility in organic semiconductors creates a challenge for OPV designs for achieving optically thick and electrically thin device structures to achieve sufficient light absorption and efficient electron/hole extraction. Recent advances in the field of OPV devices are reviewed, with a focus on the progress in device architecture and optical engineering approaches that lead to improved electrical and optical characteristics in OPV devices. Successful strategies are highlighted for light wave distribution, modulation, and absorption promotion inside the active layer of OPV devices by incorporating periodic nanopatterns/nanostructures or incorporating metallic nanomaterials and nanostructures.

Stability of organic solar cells: challenges and strategies

This review highlights the factors limiting the stability of organic solar cells and recent developments in strategies to increase the stability of organic solar cells.

High-Performance Small Molecule/Polymer Ternary Organic Solar Cells Based on a Layer-By-Layer Process

The layer-by-layer process method, which had been used to fabricate a bilayer or bulk heterojunction organic solar cell, was developed to fabricate highly efficient ternary blend solar cells in which small molecules and polymers act as two donors. The active layer could be formed by incorporating the small molecules into the polymer based active layer via a layer-by-layer method: the small molecules were first coated on the surface of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene):poly(styrenesulfonate) (

PEDOT

PSS), and then the mixed solution of polymer and fullerene derivative was spin-coated on top of a small molecule layer. In this method, the small molecules in crystalline state were effectively mixed in the active layer. Without further optimization of the morphology of the ternary blend, a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.76% was obtained with large short-circuit current density (Jsc) (17.24 mA cm(-2)) and fill factor (FF) (0.696). The high PCE resulted from not only enhanced light harvesting but also more balanced charge transport by incorporating small molecules.

Synergistic Effects of Morphological Control and Complementary Absorption in Efficient All-Small-Molecule Ternary-Blend Solar Cells

In this study, we combined two small-molecule donors-a diketopyrrolopyrrole-based small molecule (SMD) and a benzodithiophene-based molecule (BDT6T)-with [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) to form ternary blend solar cells. The power conversion efficiency of the binary SMD:PC61BM bulk heterojunction solar cell improved from 4.57 to 6.28% after adding an appropriate amount BDT6T as a guest. We attribute this 37% improvement in device performance to the complementary absorption behavior of BDT6T and SMD, as evidenced by the increase in the short circuit current. After addition of BDT6T to form the ternary blend, the crystallinity and morphology of the active layer were enhanced. For example, the features observed in the ternary active layers were finer than those in the binary blends. This means that BDT6T as a third component in the ternary blend has effective role on both the absorption and the morphology. In addition, adding BDT6T to form the ternary blend also led to an increase in the open-circuit voltage. Our findings suggest that the preparation of such simple all-small-molecule ternary blends can be an effective means of improving the efficiency of photovoltaic devices.

Controlling Exciton Diffusion and Fullerene Distribution in Photovoltaic Blends by Side Chain Modification

The influence of crystallinity on exciton diffusion and fullerene distribution was investigated by blending amorphous and semicrystalline copolymers. We measured exciton diffusion and fluorescence quenching in such blends by dispersing fullerene molecules into them. We find that the diffusion length is more than two times higher in the semicrystalline copolymer than in the amorphous copolymer. We also find that fullerene preferentially mixes into disordered regions of the polymer film. This shows that relatively small differences in molecular structure are important for exciton diffusion and fullerene distribution.

Polymer-Polymer Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Significantly Boosts the Power Conversion Efficiency of Bulk-Heterojunction Solar Cells

Optically resonant donor polymers can exploit a wider range of the solar spectrum effectively without a complicated tandem design in an organic solar cell. Ultrafast Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) in a polymer-polymer system that significantly improves the power conversion efficiency in bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells from 6.8% to 8.9% is demonstrated, thus paving the way to achieving 15% efficient solar cells.

Fine Tuning Surface Energy of Poly(3-hexylthiophene) by Heteroatom Modification of the Alkyl Side Chains

Recent work has pointed to polymer miscibility and surface energy as key figures of merit in the formation of organic alloys and synergistic behavior between components in ternary blend solar cells. Here, we present a simple model system and first report of poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based random copolymers featuring either a semifluoroalkyl (P3HT-co-FHT) or oligoether (P3HT-co-MET) side chain, prepared via Stille polycondensation. Water drop contact angle measurements demonstrated that P3HT-co-FHT polymers reached a minimum surface energy of 14.2 mN/m at 50% composition of comonomers, while in contrast, P3HT-co-MET polymers increased as high as 27.0 mN/m at 50% composition, compared to P3HT at 19.9 mN/m. Importantly, the surface energy of the copolymers was found to vary regularly with comonomer composition and exhibited fine-tuning. Optical and electronic properties of the polymers are found to be composition independent as determined by UV-vis and CV measurements; HOMO energy levels ranged from 5.25 to 5.30 eV; and optical band gaps all measured 1.9 eV. Following this model, surface energy modification of state-of-the-art polymers, without altering desirable electronic and optical properties, is proposed as a useful tool in identifying and exploiting more alloying polymer pairs for ternary blend solar cells.

Enhanced Performance of Polymeric Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells via Molecular Doping with TFSA

Organic solar cells based on bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide (TFSA, [CF3SO2]2NH) bulk doped poly[N-9''-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole) (PCDTBT):C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) were fabricated to study the effect of molecular doping. By adding TFSA (0.2-0.8 wt %, TFSA to PCDTBT) in the conventional PCDTBT:PC71BM blends, we found that the hole mobility was increased with the reduced series resistance in photovoltaic devices. The p-doping effect of TFSA was confirmed by photoemission spectroscopy that the Fermi level of doped PCDTBT shifts downward to the HOMO level and it results in a larger internal electrical field at the donor/acceptor interface for more efficient charge transfer. Moreover, the doping effect was also confirmed by charge modulated electroabsorption spectroscopy (CMEAS), showing that there are additional polaron signals in the sub-bandgap region in the doped thin films. With decreased series resistance, the open-circuit voltage (Voc) was increased from 0.85 to 0.91 V and the fill factor (FF) was improved from 60.7% to 67.3%, resulting in a largely enhanced power conversion efficiency (PCE) from 5.39% to 6.46%. Our finding suggests the molecular doping by TFSA can be a facile approach to improve the electrical properties of organic materials for future development of organic photovoltaic devices (OPVs).

Conjugated Polymer-Small Molecule Alloy Leads to High Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells

Ternary organic solar cells are promising candidates for bulk heterojunction solar cells; however, improving the power conversion efficiency (PCE) is quite challenging because the ternary system is complicated on phase separation behavior. In this study, a ternary organic solar cell (OSC) with two donors, including one polymer (PTB7-Th), one small molecule (p-DTS(FBTTH2)2), and one acceptor (PC71BM), is fabricated. We propose the two donors in the ternary blend forms an alloy. A notable averaged PCE of 10.5% for ternary OSC is obtained due to the improvement of the fill factor (FF) and the short-circuit current density (J(sc)), and the open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) does not pin to the smaller V(oc) of the corresponding binary blends. A highly ordered face-on orientation of polymer molecules is obtained due to the formation of an alloy structure, which facilitates the enhancement of charge separation and transport and the reduction of charge recombination. This work indicates that a high crystallinity and the face-on orientation of polymers could be obtained by forming alloy with two miscible donors, thus paving a way to largely enhance the PCE of OSCs by using the ternary blend strategy.

Exploring the open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells under low temperature

Open-circuit voltage (V_OC) in organic solar cells (OSCs) is currently still not well-understood. A generally acceptable view is that V_OC is mainly determined by the energy level offset between donor and acceptor materials. Recently in ternary blend OSCs, V_OC is found to be dependent on the blend composition. But contrary to expectation, this dependence is not a simple linear relationship, which adds complications to understanding on V_OC. Here, in order to figure out the origin of V_OC, we performed a series of experiments on both binary and ternary blend OSCs in a wide temperature range from 15 K to 300 K. It is observed that the devices behave like Schottky barrier (SB) diode. By fitting the experimental results with SB diode model, the detailed device parameters of ternary blend OSCs are extracted and it is found that V_OC is determined by the energetics of organic molecules and metal at the cathode interface, and the inhomogeneity of the SB also play a great role in the origin of V_OC at low temperatures. This work not only paves the way to deep understanding on the origin of V_OC, but also opens a door to further exploring the general working principle of OSCs.

Wide bandgap OPV polymers based on pyridinonedithiophene unit with efficiency >5

We report the properties of a new series of wide band gap photovoltaic polymers based on the N-alkyl 2-pyridone dithiophene (PDT) unit.

We report the properties of a new series of wide band gap photovoltaic polymers based on the N-alkyl 2-pyridone dithiophene (PDT) unit. These polymers are effective bulk heterojunction solar cell materials when blended with phenyl-C₇₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM). They achieve power conversion efficiencies (up to 5.33%) high for polymers having such large bandgaps, ca. 2.0 eV (optical) and 2.5 eV (electrochemical). Grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) reveals strong correlations between π–π stacking distance and regularity, polymer backbone planarity, optical absorption maximum energy, and photovoltaic efficiency.

High-performance ternary blend polymer solar cells involving both energy transfer and hole relay processes

The integration of multiple materials with complementary absorptions into a single junction device is regarded as an efficient way to enhance the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, because of increased complexity with one more component, only limited high-performance ternary systems have been demonstrated previously. Here we report an efficient ternary blend OSC with a PCE of 9.2%. We show that the third component can reduce surface trap densities in the ternary blend. Detailed studies unravel that the improved performance results from synergistic effects of enlarged open circuit voltage, suppressed trap-assisted recombination, enhanced light absorption, increased hole extraction, efficient energy transfer and better morphology. The working mechanism and high device performance demonstrate new insights and design guidelines for high-performance ternary blend solar cells and suggest that ternary structure is a promising platform to boost the efficiency of OSCs.

Simultaneous improvement in short circuit current, open circuit voltage, and fill factor of polymer solar cells through ternary strategy

We present a smart strategy to simultaneously increase the short circuit current (Jsc), the open circuit voltage (Voc), and the fill factor (FF) of polymer solar cells (PSCs). A two-dimensional conjugated small molecule photovoltaic material (SMPV1), as the second electron donor, was doped into the blend system of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl (PC71BM) to form ternary PSCs. The ternary PSCs with 5 wt % SMPV1 doping ratio in donors achieve 4.06% champion power conversion efficiency (PCE), corresponding to about 21.2% enhancement compared with the 3.35% PCE of P3HT:PC71BM-based PSCs. The underlying mechanism on performance improvement of ternary PSCs can be summarized as (i) harvesting more photons in the longer wavelength region to increase Jsc; (ii) obtaining the lower mixed highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level by incorporating SMPV1 to increase Voc; (iii) forming the better charge carrier transport channels through the cascade energy level structure and optimizing phase separation of donor/acceptor materials to increase Jsc and FF.

Contrasting performance of donor-acceptor copolymer pairs in ternary blend solar cells and two-acceptor copolymers in binary blend solar cells

Here two contrasting approaches to polymer-fullerene solar cells are compared. In the first approach, two distinct semi-random donor-acceptor copolymers are blended with phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) to form ternary blend solar cells. The two poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based polymers contain either the acceptor thienopyrroledione (TPD) or diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP). In the second approach, semi-random donor-acceptor copolymers containing both TPD and DPP acceptors in the same polymer backbone, termed two-acceptor polymers, are blended with PC61BM to give binary blend solar cells. The two approaches result in bulk heterojunction solar cells that have the same molecular active-layer components but differ in the manner in which these molecular components are mixed, either by physical mixing (ternary blend) or chemical "mixing" in the two-acceptor (binary blend) case. Optical properties and photon-to-electron conversion efficiencies of the binary and ternary blends were found to have similar features and were described as a linear combination of the individual components. At the same time, significant differences were observed in the open-circuit voltage (Voc) behaviors of binary and ternary blend solar cells. While in case of two-acceptor polymers, the Voc was found to be in the range of 0.495-0.552 V, ternary blend solar cells showed behavior inherent to organic alloy formation, displaying an intermediate, composition-dependent and tunable Voc in the range from 0.582 to 0.684 V, significantly exceeding the values achieved in the two-acceptor containing binary blend solar cells. Despite the differences between the physical and chemical mixing approaches, both pathways provided solar cells with similar power conversion efficiencies, highlighting the advantages of both pathways toward highly efficient organic solar cells.

Synergistic effect of polymer and small molecules for high-performance ternary organic solar cells

A ternary blend system with two donors and one acceptor provides an effective route to improve the performance of organic solar cells. A synergistic effect of polymer and small molecules is observed in ternary solar cells, and the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the ternary system (8.40%) is higher than those of binary systems based on small molecules (7.48%) or polymers (6.85%).

DPP-based small molecule, non-fullerene acceptors for “channel II” charge generation in OPVs and their improved performance in ternary cells

Three diketopyrrolopyrrole-thiophene-based small molecules were synthesized substituting electron-withdrawing cyanide group in different positions and introduced as acceptors in organic photovoltaic cells.

Perylene and naphthalene diimide polymers for all-polymer solar cells: a comparative study of chemical copolymerization and physical blend

Five copolymers, having 4,4,9,9-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]-dithiophene as a donor unit, and perylene diimide (PDI) and/or naphthalene diimide (NDI) as acceptor moieties, were synthesized, and used as electron acceptors in polymer solar cells.

Red colored CPL emission of chiral 1,2-DACH-based polymers via chiral transfer of the conjugated chain backbone structure

Chiral polymers incorporating a chiral 1,2-DACH moiety and BODIPY can exhibit strong mirror image Cotton effects and emit red colored CPL signals via the effective chiral transfer of the conjugated polymer chain backbone.

Large interfacial area enhances electrical conductivity of poly(3-hexylthiophene)/insulating polymer blends

The conductivity of P3HT/IP blends increases with solution mixing time because of increased interfacial area between P3HT whiskers and IP.

Highly efficient exciton harvesting and charge transport in ternary blend solar cells based on wide- and low-bandgap polymers

Ternary blend solar cells using a crystalline wide-bandgap P3HT and a low-bandgap PSBTBT exhibit good exciton harvesting and charge transport.

Rational design of D–A1–D–A2 conjugated polymers with superior spectral coverage

Calculations and experiments elucidate factors governing how D–A₁–D–A₂ polymers offer fundamentally improved spectral coverage via allowed transitions to both acceptor LUMOs.

Ternary blend hybrid solar cells incorporating wide and narrow bandgap polymers

Ternary hybrid solar cells based on zinc oxide with wide bandgap poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and narrow bandgap poly[2,3-bis(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-diyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl] (PTQ1) exhibit improved photovoltaic performance compared to that of individual binary hybrid solar cells. The increase in the photocurrent is partly due to the complementary absorption bands, which can extend the light-harvesting range from visible to near-infrared regions, and partly due to efficient energy transfer from P3HT to PTQ1, by which P3HT excitons are more efficiently collected at the PTQ1/ZnO interface and hence convert to charge carriers effectively. Furthermore, the improvement in the fill factor may be due to efficient hole transfer from PTQ1 to P3HT with higher hole mobility, and thereby, hole polarons are more efficiently collected on the electrode.

Bis(tri-n-hexylsilyl oxide) silicon phthalocyanine: a unique additive in ternary bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic devices

Previous studies have shown that the use of bis(tri-n-hexylsilyl oxide) silicon phthalocyanine ((3HS)2-SiPc) as an additive in a P3HT:PC61BM cascade ternary bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaic (BHJ OPV) device results in an increase in the short circuit current (J(SC)) and efficiency (η(eff)) of up to 25% and 20%, respectively. The previous studies have attributed the increase in performance to the presence of (3HS)2-SiPc at the BHJ interface. In this study, we explored the molecular characteristics of (3HS)2-SiPc which makes it so effective in increasing the OPV device J(SC) and η(eff. Initially, we synthesized phthalocyanine-based additives using different core elements such as germanium and boron instead of silicon, each having similar frontier orbital energies compared to (3HS)2-SiPc and tested their effect on BHJ OPV device performance. We observed that addition of bis(tri-n-hexylsilyl oxide) germanium phthalocyanine ((3HS)2-GePc) or tri-n-hexylsilyl oxide boron subphthalocyanine (3HS-BsubPc) resulted in a nonstatistically significant increase in JSC and η(eff). Secondly, we kept the silicon phthalocyanine core and substituted the tri-n-hexylsilyl solubilizing groups with pentadecyl phenoxy groups and tested the resulting dye in a BHJ OPV. While an increase in JSC and η(eff) was observed at low (PDP)2-SiPc loadings, the increase was not as significant as (3HS)2-SiPc; therefore, (3HS)2-SiPc is a unique additive. During our study, we observed that (3HS)2-SiPc had an extraordinary tendency to crystallize compared to the other compounds in this study and our general experience. On the basis of this observation, we have offered a hypothesis that when (3HS)2-SiPc migrates to the P3HT:PC61BM interface the reason for its unique performance is not solely due to its frontier orbital energies but also might be due to a high driving force for crystallization.

Influence of polymer compatibility on the open-circuit voltage in ternary blend bulk heterojunction solar cells

The evolution of the open-circuit voltage (Voc) with composition in ternary blend bulk heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells is correlated with the miscibility of the polymers. Ternary blends based on poly[N-9'-heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4',7'-di-2-thienyl-2',1',3'-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) and poly(3-hexylthiophene-thiophene-diketopyrrolopyrrole) (P3HTT-DPP-10%) with phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) acceptor were investigated. The Voc is pinned to the lower value of the P3HTT-DPP-10%:PC61BM binary blend even up to 95% PCDTBT in the polymer fraction. This is in stark contrast to the previously investigated system based on P3HTT-DPP-10%, poly(3-hexylthiophene-co-3-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophene) (P3HT75-co-EHT25), and PC61BM, where the Voc varied regularly across the full composition range, as explained by an organic alloy model, implying strong physical and electronic interaction between the polymers. Photocurrent spectral response (PSR) and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements indicate that the present system does not exhibit the hallmarks of alloy formation. Measured values of the surface energies of the polymers support miscibility of P3HTT-DPP-10% with P3HT75-co-EHT25 but not with PCDTBT. Surface energy is proposed as a figure of merit for predicting alloy formation and compositional dependence of the Voc in ternary blend solar cells and miscibility between polymers is proposed as a necessary attribute for polymer pairs that will display alloy behavior.

Improved efficiency of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells by doping low-bandgap small molecules

We present performance improved ternary bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells by doping a small molecule, 2,4-bis[4-(N,N-diisobutylamino)-2,6-dihydroxyphenyl] squaraine (DIB-SQ), into the common binary blend of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM). The optimized power conversion efficiency (PCE) of P3HT:PC71BM-based cells was improved from 3.05% to 3.72% by doping 1.2 wt % DIB-SQ as the second electron donor, which corresponds to ∼22% PCE enhancement. The main contributions of doping DIB-SQ material on the improved performance of PSCs can be summarized as (i) harvesting more photons in the low-energy range, (ii) increased exciton dissociation, energy transfer, and charge carrier transport in the ternary blend films. The energy transfer process from P3HT to DIB-SQ is demonstrated by time-resolved transient photoluminescence spectra through monitoring the lifetime of 700 nm emission from neat P3HT, DIB-SQ and blended P3HT:DIB-SQ solutions. The lifetime of 700 nm emission is increased from 0.9 ns for neat P3HT solution, to 4.9 ns for neat DIB-SQ solution, to 6.2 ns for P3HT:DIB-SQ blend solution.