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Filate T, Lee S, Franco LR, Chen Q, Genene Z, Marchiori CFN, Lee Y, Araujo M, Mammo W, Woo HY, Kim BJ, Wang E. Aqueous Processed All-Polymer Solar Cells with High Open-Circuit Voltage Based on Low-Cost Thiophene-Quinoxaline Polymers. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2024; 16:12886-12896. [PMID: 38425182 PMCID: PMC10941072 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.3c18994] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2023] [Revised: 02/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2024] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Eco-friendly solution processing and the low-cost synthesis of photoactive materials are important requirements for the commercialization of organic solar cells (OSCs). Although varieties of aqueous-soluble acceptors have been developed, the availability of aqueous-processable polymer donors remains quite limited. In particular, the generally shallow highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels of existing polymer donors limit further increases in the power conversion efficiency (PCE). Here, we design and synthesize two water/alcohol-processable polymer donors, poly[(thiophene-2,5-diyl)-alt-(2-((13-(2,5,8,11-tetraoxadodecyl)-2,5,8,11-tetraoxatetradecan-14-yl)oxy)-6,7-difluoroquinoxaline-5,8-diyl)] (P(Qx8O-T)) and poly[(selenophene-2,5-diyl)-alt-(2-((13-(2,5,8,11-tetraoxadodecyl)-2,5,8,11-tetraoxatetradecan-14-yl)oxy)-6,7-difluoroquinoxaline-5,8-diyl)] (P(Qx8O-Se)) with oligo(ethylene glycol) (OEG) side chains, having deep HOMO energy levels (∼-5.4 eV). The synthesis of the polymers is achieved in a few synthetic and purification steps at reduced cost. The theoretical calculations uncover that the dielectric environmental variations are responsible for the observed band gap lowering in OEG-based polymers compared to their alkylated counterparts. Notably, the aqueous-processed all-polymer solar cells (aq-APSCs) based on P(Qx8O-T) and poly[(N,N'-bis(3-(2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)-ethoxy)ethoxy)-2-((2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethoxy)-methyl)propyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl)-alt-(2,5-thiophene)] (P(NDIDEG-T)) active layer exhibit a PCE of 2.27% and high open-circuit voltage (VOC) approaching 0.8 V, which are among the highest values for aq-APSCs reported to date. This study provides important clues for the design of low-cost, aqueous-processable polymer donors and the fabrication of aqueous-processable OSCs with high VOC.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tadele
T. Filate
- Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
- Department
of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 33658, 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Seungjin Lee
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 34141 Daejeon, Republic of Korea
- Energy
Materials Research Center, Korea Research
Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), 34114 Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Leandro R. Franco
- Department
of Engineering and Physics, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden
| | - Qiaonan Chen
- Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | - Zewdneh Genene
- Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
| | | | - Yoonjoo Lee
- Department
of Chemistry, Korea University, 02841 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Moyses Araujo
- Department
of Engineering and Physics, Karlstad University, 65188 Karlstad, Sweden
- Materials
Theory Division, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Uppsala University, 75120 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Wendimagegn Mammo
- Department
of Chemistry, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 33658, 1000 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
| | - Han Young Woo
- Department
of Chemistry, Korea University, 02841 Seoul, Republic of Korea
| | - Bumjoon J. Kim
- Department
of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), 34141 Daejeon, Republic of Korea
| | - Ergang Wang
- Department
of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Chalmers
University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden
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Yildiz Z, Atilgan A, Atli A, Özel K, Altinkaya C, Yildiz A. Enhancement of efficiency of natural and organic dye sensitized solar cells using thin film TiO2 photoanodes fabricated by spin-coating. J Photochem Photobiol A Chem 2019. [DOI: 10.1016/j.jphotochem.2018.09.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
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Du X, Lin H, Chen X, Tao S, Zheng C, Zhang X. Ternary organic solar cells with a phase-modulated surface distribution via the addition of a small molecular luminescent dye to obtain a high efficiency over 10.5. NANOSCALE 2018; 10:16455-16467. [PMID: 30152834 DOI: 10.1039/c8nr04335c] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/08/2023]
Abstract
Incorporation of a ternary organic component is an effective strategy to enhance the performance of bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells (OSCs). In this study, a small molecule luminescent dye, C545T, was first doped into blends of PTB7-Th/PC71BM and PTB7/PC71BM as a third component to fabricate ternary OSCs. It is demonstrated that C545T can disrupt the severe vertical distribution in the binary blend and effectively modulate the novel surface chemical configuration by improving the self-assembly process of the polymer donor, as a result of the good miscibility among the active layer materials and the π-π interactions between PC71BM and C545T. The obtained homogeneously bicontinuous BHJ with numerous interpenetrating nanofibers optimizes the domain size of exciton diffusion and the length of charge transfer. The energy transfer between C545T and polymers changes the transmission path of photo-generated excitons, which together improve the exciton dissociation process and reduce the recombination loss. Champion power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 10.69% and 9.42% were achieved by the ternary blends of PTB7-Th/C545T/PC71BM and PTB7/C545T/PC71BM, respectively, which correspond to a nearly 20% enhancement over their binary counterparts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoyang Du
- School of Optoelectronic Science and Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), Chengdu 610054, P. R. China.
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