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Liu T, Liu J, Li Y, Gao X, Wang M, Zhou Z, He H, Zhang Q, Li L, Huang H, Xiao J, Ma CQ. 3-Methylthiophene: A Sustainable Solvent for High-Performance Organic Solar Cells. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:50916-50925. [PMID: 39283967 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.4c11805] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 09/28/2024]
Abstract
The use of harmful halogenated or aromatic solvents such as chloroform (CF), chlorobenzene (CB), and o-xylene (o-XY) is one of the greatest barriers to the industrial-scale manufacturing of high-performance organic solar cells (OSCs). Therefore, it is necessary to eliminate the effects of these solvents to ensure practical feasibility of OSCs. We found that the anthracene-terminated polymer donor and small-molecule acceptor BO-4Cl had good solubility in 3-methylthiophene (3-MeT). There were no toxicity labels in the SDS and exposure control limits for 3-MeT. An overall power conversion efficiency of 16.87% was achieved by using 3-MeT as the solvent for solar cell fabrication, which was higher than that of the cells made from CF (16.18%) and o-XY (15.69%). The best OSC based on PM6:D18:L8-BO and fabricated with 3-MeT exhibited a high PCE of 18.13%, which is one of the highest values for cells fabricated from halogen-free solvents. These results indicate that 3-MeT is an eco-friendly and low-toxicity solvent for the sustainable fabrication of the OSC active layer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tingfu Liu
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
| | - Jiaqing Liu
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
| | - Yiming Li
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Hebei Province, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis, Ministry of Education, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, P.R. China
| | - Xiaomei Gao
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
| | - Meng Wang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
| | - Zehua Zhou
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
| | - Haiyan He
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
| | - Qing Zhang
- Vacuum Interconnected Nanotech Workstation (Nano-X), Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
| | - Lijun Li
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Hebei Province, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis, Ministry of Education, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, P.R. China
| | - Huajie Huang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hohai University, Nanjing 210098, China
| | - Jinchong Xiao
- College of Chemistry and Environmental Science, Key Laboratory of Chemical Biology of Hebei Province, Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry and Molecular Diagnosis, Ministry of Education, Hebei University, Baoding 071002, P.R. China
| | - Chang-Qi Ma
- i-Lab & Printable Electronics Research Center, Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou 215123, P.R. China
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Duan X, Yang Y, Yu J, Liu C, Li X, Jee MH, Gao J, Chen L, Tang Z, Woo HY, Lu G, Sun Y. Solid Additive Dual-Regulates Spectral Response Enabling High-Performance Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells. ADVANCED MATERIALS (DEERFIELD BEACH, FLA.) 2024; 36:e2308750. [PMID: 38289228 DOI: 10.1002/adma.202308750] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/28/2023] [Revised: 01/11/2024] [Indexed: 02/08/2024]
Abstract
Semi-transparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) possess significant potential for applications in vehicles and buildings due to their distinctive visual transparency. Conventional device engineering strategies are typically used to optimize photon selection and utilization at the expense of power conversion efficiency (PCE); moreover, the fixed spectral utilization range always imposes an unsatisfactory upper limit to its light utilization efficiency (LUE). Herein, a novel solid additive named 1,3-diphenoxybenzene (DB) is employed to dual-regulate donor/acceptor molecular aggregation and crystallinity, which effectively broadens the spectral response of ST-OSCs in near-infrared region. Besides, more visible light is allowed to pass through the devices, which enables ST-OSCs to possess satisfactory photocurrent and high average visible transmittance (AVT) simultaneously. Consequently, the optimal ST-OSC based on PP2+DB/BTP-eC9+DB achieves a superior LUE of 4.77%, representing the highest value within AVT range of 40-50%, which also correlates with the formation of multi-scale phase-separated morphology. Such results indicate that the ST-OSCs can simultaneously meet the requirements for minimum commercial efficiency and plant photosynthesis when integrated with the roofs of agricultural greenhouses. This work emphasizes the significance of additives to tune the spectral response in ST-OSCs, and charts the way for organic photovoltaics in economically sustainable agricultural development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaopeng Duan
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Yinuo Yang
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Jifa Yu
- School of Chemistry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710054, P. R. China
| | - Chunhui Liu
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Xiaoming Li
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Min Hun Jee
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, 136-713, Republic of Korea
| | - Jiaxin Gao
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China
| | - Lingyu Chen
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
| | - Zheng Tang
- College of Materials Science and Engineering, Donghua University, Shanghai, 201620, P. R. China
| | - Han Young Woo
- Department of Chemistry, College of Science, KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, Seoul, 136-713, Republic of Korea
| | - Guanghao Lu
- School of Chemistry, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710054, P. R. China
| | - Yanming Sun
- School of Chemistry, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, P. R. China
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Jeon SJ, Yang NG, Kim JY, Kim YC, Lee HS, Moon DK. A 3-Fluoropyridine Manipulating the Aggregation and Fibril Network of Donor Polymers for Eco-Friendly Solution-Processed Versatile Organic Solar Cells. SMALL (WEINHEIM AN DER BERGSTRASSE, GERMANY) 2023; 19:e2301803. [PMID: 37222123 DOI: 10.1002/smll.202301803] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Revised: 05/01/2023] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
The development of eco-friendly solvent-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) suitable for industrial-scale production should be now considered the imperative research. Herein, asymmetric 3-fluoropyridine (FPy) unit is used to control the aggregation and fibril network of polymer blends. Notably, terpolymer PM6(FPy = 0.2) incorporating 20% FPy in a well-known donor polymer poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl-3-fluoro)thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene))-alt-(5,5-(1',3'-di-2-thienyl-5',7'-bis(2-ethylhexyl)benzo[1',2'-c:4',5'-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione)] (PM6) can reduce the regioregularity of the polymer backbone and endow them with much-enhanced solubility in eco-friendly solvents. Accordingly, the excellent adaptability for fabricating versatile devices based on PM6(FPy = 0.2) by toluene processing is demonstrated. The resulting OSCs exhibit a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.1% (17.0% by processed with chloroform) and low batch-to-batch variation. Moreover, by controlling the donor-to-acceptor weight ratio at 0.5:1.0 and 0.25:1.0, semi-transparent OSCs (ST-OSCs) yield significant light utilization efficiencies of 3.61% and 3.67%, respectively. For large-area (1.0 cm2 ) indoor OSC (I-OSC), a high PCE of 20.6% is achieved with an appropriate energy loss of 0.61 eV under a warm white light-emitting diode (3,000 K) with the illumination of 958 lux. Finally, the long-term stability of the devices is evaluated by investigating their structure-performance-stability relationship. This work provides an effective approach to realizing eco-friendly, efficient, and stable OSCs/ST-OSCs/I-OSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sung Jae Jeon
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
| | - Nam Gyu Yang
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
| | - Ji Youn Kim
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
| | - Ye Chan Kim
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
| | - Hyoung Seok Lee
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
| | - Doo Kyung Moon
- Nano and Information Materials (NIMs) Laboratory, Department of Chemical Engineering, Konkuk University, 120, Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul, 05029, South Korea
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