An Alkylated Indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-Based Nonfullerene Acceptor with High Crystallinity Exhibiting Single Junction Solar Cell Efficiencies Greater than 13% with Low Voltage Losses

Zhuping Fei, Flurin D. Eisner, Xuechen Jiao, Mohammed Azzouzi, Jason A. Röhr, Yang Han, Munazza Shahid, Anthony S. R. Chesman, Christopher D. Easton, Christopher R. McNeill, Thomas D. Anthopoulos, Jenny Nelson, Martin Heeney

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464 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A new synthetic route, to prepare an alkylated indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene-based nonfullerene acceptor (C8-ITIC), is reported. Compared to the reported ITIC with phenylalkyl side chains, the new acceptor C8-ITIC exhibits a reduction in the optical band gap, higher absorptivity, and an increased propensity to crystallize. Accordingly, blends with the donor polymer PBDB-T exhibit a power conversion efficiency (PCE) up to 12.4%. Further improvements in efficiency are found upon backbone fluorination of the donor polymer to afford the novel material PFBDB-T. The resulting blend with C8-ITIC shows an impressive PCE up to 13.2% as a result of the higher open-circuit voltage. Electroluminescence studies demonstrate that backbone fluorination reduces the energy loss of the blends, with PFBDB-T/C8-ITIC-based cells exhibiting a small energy loss of 0.6 eV combined with a high JSC of 19.6 mA cm−2.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1705209
Number of pages7
JournalAdvanced Materials
Volume30
Issue number8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Feb 2018

Keywords

  • conjugated polymers
  • crystal engineering
  • nonfullerene acceptors
  • organic solar cells

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