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Achieving Thickness‐Insensitive Morphology of the Photoactive Layer for Printable Organic Photovoltaic Cells via Side Chain Engineering in Nonfullerene Acceptors
Author(s) -
Lee Seongyu,
Park Kwang Hun,
Lee JongHoon,
Back Hyungcheol,
Sung Min Jae,
Lee Jinho,
Kim Jehan,
Kim Heejoo,
Kim YunHi,
Kwon SoonKi,
Lee Kwanghee
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
advanced energy materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 10.08
H-Index - 220
eISSN - 1614-6840
pISSN - 1614-6832
DOI - 10.1002/aenm.201900044
Subject(s) - photoactive layer , materials science , organic solar cell , acceptor , polymer solar cell , active layer , photovoltaic system , energy conversion efficiency , layer (electronics) , photovoltaics , optoelectronics , nanotechnology , polymer , composite material , ecology , physics , thin film transistor , condensed matter physics , biology
Abstract Although high power conversion efficiency of over 14% has been achieved using nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) in organic photovoltaics (OPVs), securing their insensitive device performance to the thickness of the photoactive layer remains an indispensable requirement for their successful commercialization via printing technologies. In this study, by synthesizing a new series of ITIC‐based NFAs having alkyl or alkoxy groups, it is found that the bulk heterojunction morphology dependence on the thickness of the photoactive layer becomes more severe as the difference in the surface energy of the donor and acceptor increases. It is believed that this observation is the origin that yields the device performance dependence on the thickness of the photoactive layer. Through sensitive control of the surface energy of these ITIC‐based NFAs, it is demonstrated that thickness‐insensitive OPVs can be achieved even using a doctor blade technique under air without using any additives. It is believed that present approach provides an important insight into the design of photoactive materials and morphology control for the printable OPVs using NFAs.