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Neu J, Samson S, Ding K, Rech JJ, Ade H, You W. Oligo(ethylene glycol) Side Chain Architecture Enables Alcohol-Processable Conjugated Polymers for Organic Solar Cells. Macromolecules 2023. [DOI: 10.1021/acs.macromol.2c02259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/06/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Justin Neu
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Stephanie Samson
- Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Kan Ding
- Department of Physics and ORaCEL, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States
| | - Jeromy James Rech
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
| | - Harald Ade
- Department of Physics and ORaCEL, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695, United States
| | - Wei You
- Department of Chemistry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
- Department of Applied Physical Sciences, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27599, United States
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Yan Y, Zhang Y, Memon WA, Wang M, Zhang X, Wei Z. The role of entropy gains in the exciton separation in organic solar cells. Macromol Rapid Commun 2022; 43:e2100903. [PMID: 35338684 DOI: 10.1002/marc.202100903] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2021] [Revised: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
In organic solar cell (OSC), the lower dielectric constant of organic semiconductor material induces a strong Coulomb attraction between electron-hole pairs, which leads to a low exciton separation efficiency, especially the charge transfer (CT) state. The CT state formed at the electron-donor (D) and electron-acceptor (A) interface is regarded as an unfavorable property of organic photovoltaic devices. Since the OSC works in a nonzero temperature condition, the entropy effect would be one of the main reasons to overcome the Coulomb energy barrier and must be taken into account. In this review, we review the present understanding of the entropy-driven charge separation and describe how factors such as the dimensionality of the organic semiconductor, energy disorder effect, the morphology of the active layer, and the nonequilibrium effect affect the entropy contribution in compensating the Coulomb dissociation barrier for CT exciton separation and charge generation process. We focus on the investigation of the entropy effect on exciton dissociation mechanism from both theoretical and experimental aspects, which provides pathways for understanding the underlying mechanisms of exciton separation and further enhancing the efficiency of OSCs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yangjun Yan
- School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China.,CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Yajie Zhang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Waqar Ali Memon
- CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Mengni Wang
- CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China
| | - Xinghua Zhang
- School of Science, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, 100044, China
| | - Zhixiang Wei
- CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing, 100190, China
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3
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Faure MM, Dindault C, Rice NA, Lessard BH. Layer-by-Layer Organic Photovoltaic Solar Cells Using a Solution-Processed Silicon Phthalocyanine Non-Fullerene Acceptor. ACS OMEGA 2022; 7:7541-7549. [PMID: 35284724 PMCID: PMC8908506 DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.1c05715] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 05/22/2023]
Abstract
Silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs) are promising, inexpensive, and easy to synthesize non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) candidates for all-solution sequentially processed layer-by-layer (LbL) organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices. Here, we report the use of bis(tri-n-butylsilyl oxide) SiPc ((3BS)2-SiPc) paired with poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and poly[(2,6-(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)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))] (PBDB-T) donors in an LbL OPV structure. Using a direct architecture, P3HT/(3BS)2-SiPc LbL devices show power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) up to 3.0%, which is comparable or better than the corresponding bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices with either (3BS)2-SiPc or PC61BM. PBDB-T/(3BS)2-SiPc LbL devices resulted in PCEs up to 3.3%, with an impressive open-circuit voltage (V oc) as high as 1.06 V, which is among the highest V oc obtained employing the LbL approach. We also compared devices incorporating vanadium oxide (VOx) or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as a hole transporting layer and found that VOx modified the donor layer morphology and led to improved V oc. Probing the composition as a function of film layer depths revealed a similar distribution of active material for both BHJ and LbL structures when using (3BS)2-SiPc as an NFA. These findings suggest that (3BS)2-SiPc is a promising NFA that can be processed using the LbL technique, an inherently easier fabrication methodology for large-area production of OPVs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marie
D. M. Faure
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
| | - Chloé Dindault
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
| | - Nicole A. Rice
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
| | - Benoît H. Lessard
- Department
of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Ottawa, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
- School
of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, 800 King Edward Ave., Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6N5
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Hoff A, Farahat ME, Pahlevani M, Welch GC. Tin Oxide Electron Transport Layers for Air-/Solution-Processed Conventional Organic Solar Cells. ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES 2022; 14:1568-1577. [PMID: 34978404 DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c19790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Commercialization of organic solar cells (OSC) is imminent. Interlayers between the photoactive film and the electrodes are critical for high device efficiency and stability. Here, the applicability of SnO2 nanoparticles (SnO2 NPs) as the electron transport layer (ETL) in conventional OSCs is evaluated. A commercial SnO2 NPs solution in butanol is mixed with ethanol (EtOH) as a processing co-solvent to improve film formation for spin and slot-die coating deposition procedures. When processed with 200% v/v EtOH, the SnO2 NPs film presents uniform film quality and low photoactive layer degradation. The optimized SnO2 NPs ink is coated, in air, on top of two polymer:fullerene-based systems and a nonfullerene system, to form an efficient ETL film. In every case, addition of SnO2 NPs film significantly enhances photovoltaic performance, from 3.4 and 3.7% without the ETL to 6.0 and 5.7% when coated on top of PBDB-T:PC61BM and PPDT2FBT:PC61BM, respectively, and from 3.7 to 7.1% when applied on top of the PTQ10:IDIC system. Flexible, all slot-die-coated devices, in air, are also fabricated and tested, demonstrating the versatility of the SnO2 NPs ink for efficient ETL formation on top of organic photoactive layers, processed under ambient condition, ideal for practical large-scale production of OSCs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anderson Hoff
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary, AlbertaT2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University, 19 Union Street, Kingston, OntarioK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Mahmoud E Farahat
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary, AlbertaT2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University, 19 Union Street, Kingston, OntarioK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Majid Pahlevani
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary, AlbertaT2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University, 19 Union Street, Kingston, OntarioK7L 3N6, Canada
| | - Gregory C Welch
- Department of Chemistry, University of Calgary, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary, AlbertaT2N 1N4, Canada
- Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Queen's University, 19 Union Street, Kingston, OntarioK7L 3N6, Canada
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