Issue 10, 2021

Alcohol-soluble fluorene derivate functionalized with pyridyl groups as a high-performance cathode interfacial material in organic solar cells

Abstract

The synthesis and application as a cathode interfacial material (CIM) for organic solar cells (OSCs) of a fluorene-based conjugated small molecule (3FPy) with pyridyl functional side chains are presented. 3FPy is soluble in MeOH containing trace AcOH due to the interaction between pyridyl and AcOH, offering opportunities to fabricate multilayer OSCs by orthometric solution methods. When 3FPy was introduced into the conventional OSCs of both poly[4,8-bis(2-ethylhexyloxyl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithio-phene-2,6-diyl-altethylhexyl-3-fluorothithieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate-4,6-diyl] (PTB7):[6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) and poly[(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)] (PTB7-Th):PC71BM systems, significant simultaneous improvements in open-circuit voltage (Voc) and fill factor (FF) were achieved. It was found that pyridyl groups could lessen the cathode's work functions by interfacial dipoles, subsequently enlarging the built-in potentials and Voc. For the FF enhancements, the working mechanisms for 3FPy consisted of suppressing the devices’ dark currents, reducing the charge transport loss by n-doping PC71BM, and optimizing the contacts at the active layer/cathode interfaces. Therefore, this kind of novel small molecule is a promising CIM for high-performance OSCs.

Graphical abstract: Alcohol-soluble fluorene derivate functionalized with pyridyl groups as a high-performance cathode interfacial material in organic solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 Dec 2020
Accepted
03 Feb 2021
First published
04 Feb 2021

New J. Chem., 2021,45, 4584-4591

Alcohol-soluble fluorene derivate functionalized with pyridyl groups as a high-performance cathode interfacial material in organic solar cells

L. Lin, Z. Huang, Y. Luo, T. Peng, B. He, G. Chen, H. Hao, X. Li, P. Cai and W. Yang, New J. Chem., 2021, 45, 4584 DOI: 10.1039/D0NJ06143C

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements