Additive-assisted control over phase-separated nanostructures by manipulating alkylthienyl position at donor backbone for solution-processed, non-fullerene, all-small-molecule solar cells

Huang, J; Wang, X; Zhang, X; Niu, Z; Lu, Z; Jiang, B; Sun, Y; Zhan, C; Yao, J

HERO ID

3225956

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year

2014

Language

English

PMID

24559327

HERO ID 3225956
In Press No
Year 2014
Title Additive-assisted control over phase-separated nanostructures by manipulating alkylthienyl position at donor backbone for solution-processed, non-fullerene, all-small-molecule solar cells
Authors Huang, J; Wang, X; Zhang, X; Niu, Z; Lu, Z; Jiang, B; Sun, Y; Zhan, C; Yao, J
Journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
Volume 6
Issue 6
Page Numbers 3853-3862
Abstract A non-fullerene, all-small-molecule solar cell (NF-SMSC) device uses the blend of a small molecule donor and a small molecule acceptor as the active layer. Aggregation ability is a key factor for this type of solar cell. Herein, we used the alkylthienyl unit to tune the aggregation ability of the diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP)-based small molecule donors. Replacing two alkoxyl units in BDT-O-DPP with two alkylthienyl units yields BDT-T-DPP, and further introducing another two alkylthienyl units into the backbone produces BDT-T-2T-DPP. With the introduction of alkylthienyl, the backbone becomes twisted. As a result, the ππ-stacking strength, aggregation ability, and crystallite size all obey the sequence of BDT-O-DPP > BDT-T-DPP > BDT-T-2T-DPP. When selected a reported perylene diimide dimer of bis-PDI-T-EG as acceptor, the best NF-SMSC device exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 1.34, 2.01, and 1.62%, respectively, for the BDT-O-DPP, BDT-T-DPP, and BDT-T-2T-DPP based system. The BDT-T-DPP/bis-PDI-T-EG system yields the best efficiency of 2.01% among the three combinations. This is due to the moderate aggregation ability of BDT-T-DPP yields moderate phase size of 30-50 nm, whereas the strong aggregation ability of BDT-O-DPP gives a bigger size of 50-80 nm, and the weak aggregation ability of BDT-T-2T-DPP produces a smaller size of 10-30 nm. The BDT-T-DPP/bis-PDI-T-EG combination exhibits balanced hole/electron mobility of 0.022/0.016 cm(2)/(V s), whereas the BDT-O-DPP/bis-PDI-T-EG and the BDT-T-2T-DPP/bis-PDI-T-EG blend show a hole/electron mobility of 0.0011/0.0057 cm(2)/(V s) and 0.0016/0.11 cm(2)/(V s), respectively.
Doi 10.1021/am406050j
Pmid 24559327
Wosid WOS:000333551500015
Is Certified Translation No
Dupe Override No
Comments Journal: ACS applied materials & interfaces ISSN: 1944-8252
Is Public Yes
Language Text English