Halogenation Strategy of Thiophene Derived Solvent Additives Enables Optimized Morphology for Organic Solar Cells with 19.17% Efficiency

Wenyan Su, Xuming Zhou, Ze Fan Yao, Hairui Bai, Yuwei Duan, Rui Sun, Yue Wu, Qiang Wu, Hongmei Qin, Chao Zhao, Weiguo Zhu, Han Young Woo, Jie Min, Yuxiang Li, Wei Ma, Qunping Fan

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    27 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    As simple and versatile tools, additives have been widely used to refine active layer morphology and have played a crucial role in boosting the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs). Herein, three novel solvent additives named Th-FSi, Th-ClSi, and Th-BrSi with the same backbone of 2,5-bis(trimethylsilyl)thiophene are designed and synthesized by substituting different halogens of fluorine, chlorine, and bromine, respectively. Notably, Th-ClSi exhibits the more significant dipole moment and engages in non-covalent interactions with a small-molecule acceptor (SMA) L8-BO, which slight adjustments in intermolecular interaction, crystallinity, and molecular packing in the PM6:L8-BO active layer. Consequently, the OSCs incorporating Th-ClSi outperform their Th-FSi and Th-BrSi counterparts in photo-capturing, reduced energy loss, superior exciton dissociation, and charge transfer properties, out-coming yields in an enhanced PCE of 18.29%. Moreover, by integrating a near-infrared absorbing SMA (BTP-eC9) guest into the PM6:L8-BO matrix, the absorption spectrum to span 880–930 nm, and the resultant ternary OSCs achieve a commendable PCE of 19.17%, ranking among the highest efficiencies reported to date is expanded. These findings underscore the promise of halogenated thiophene-based solvent additives as a potent avenue for morphological fine-tuning and consequent PCE enhancement in OSCs.

    Original languageEnglish
    Article number2313744
    JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
    Volume34
    Issue number19
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2024 May 10

    Bibliographical note

    Publisher Copyright:
    © 2024 Wiley-VCH GmbH.

    Keywords

    • halogenation
    • morphology optimization
    • organic solar cells
    • power conversion efficiency
    • solvent additive

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
    • General Chemistry
    • Biomaterials
    • General Materials Science
    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Electrochemistry

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Halogenation Strategy of Thiophene Derived Solvent Additives Enables Optimized Morphology for Organic Solar Cells with 19.17% Efficiency'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this