Open AccessDonor Derivative Incorporation: An Effective Strategy toward High Performance All‐Small‐Molecule Ternary Organic Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Tang Hua,
Xu Tongle,
Yan Cenqi,
Gao Jie,
Yin Hang,
Lv Jie,
Singh Ranbir,
Kumar Manish,
Duan Tainan,
Kan Zhipeng,
Lu Shirong,
Li Gang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.388
H-Index - 100
ISSN - 2198-3844
DOI - 10.1002/advs.201901613
Subject(s) - crystallinity , materials science , ternary operation , organic solar cell , energy conversion efficiency , chemical engineering , terthiophene , derivative (finance) , molecule , nanotechnology , optoelectronics , chemistry , organic chemistry , polymer , composite material , computer science , financial economics , engineering , economics , programming language
Thick‐film all‐small‐molecule (ASM) organic solar cells (OSCs) are preferred for large‐scale fabrication with printing techniques due to the distinct advantages of monodispersion, easy purification, and negligible batch‐to‐batch variation. However, ASM OSCs are typically constrained by the morphology aspect to achieve high efficiency and maintain thick film simultaneously. Specifically, synchronously manipulating crystallinity, domain size, and phase segregation to a suitable level are extremely challenging. Herein, a derivative of benzodithiophene terthiophene rhodanine (BTR) (a successful small molecule donor for thick‐film OSCs), namely, BTR‐OH, is synthesized with similar chemical structure and absorption but less crystallinity relative to BTR, and is employed as a third component to construct BTR:BTR‐OH:PC 71 BM ternary devices. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.14% and fill factor (FF) of 74.2% are successfully obtained in ≈300 nm OSC, which outperforms BTR:PC 71 BM (9.05% and 69.6%) and BTR‐OH:PC 71 BM (8.00% and 65.3%) counterparts, and stands among the top values for thick‐film ASM OSCs. The performance enhancement results from the enhanced absorption, suppressed bimolecular/trap–assisted recombination, improved charge extraction, optimized domain size, and suitable crystallinity. These findings demonstrate that the donor derivative featuring similar chemical structure but different crystallinity provides a promising third component guideline for high‐performance ternary ASM OSCs.