Issue 19, 2017

Side-chain engineering for efficient non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on a wide-bandgap polymer donor

Abstract

In this work, a new wide-bandgap polymer, PSBZ, based on thienyl substituted benzodithiophene (BDTT) as the donor unit and difluorobenzotriazole (BTz-2F) as the acceptor unit was synthesized for photovoltaic applications. Compared to the analogous polymer J61 with linear dodecylthio side chains in the BDTT unit and a long 2-hexyldecyl side chain in BTz-2F, PSBZ possesses branched 2-butyloctyl side chains to increase steric hindrance of the BDTT unit and a short 2-butyloctyl side chain to decrease steric hindrance of the BTz-2F unit for more efficient charge separation and transport in the devices. As a result, PSBZ exhibited stronger π–π interaction and smaller stacking spacing leading to a higher extinction coefficient of 1.48 × 105 cm−1 and a high hole mobility of 8.56 × 10−3 cm2 V−1 s−1. Compared to the analogous polymer J61 with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 9.53% and a short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 17.43 mA cm−2, the PSBZ:ITIC-based polymer solar cells yielded a higher PCE of 10.5% with a higher Jsc of 19.0 mA cm−2. The results show that our design strategy is successful for improving photovoltaic performance by side chain engineering.

Graphical abstract: Side-chain engineering for efficient non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on a wide-bandgap polymer donor

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
07 Mar 2017
Accepted
05 Apr 2017
First published
05 Apr 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 9204-9209

Side-chain engineering for efficient non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on a wide-bandgap polymer donor

Q. Fan, W. Su, X. Guo, Y. Wang, J. Chen, C. Ye, M. Zhang and Y. Li, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 9204 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA02075A

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