Issue 14, 2024

An efficient alkoxy-substituted polymer acceptor for efficient all-polymer solar cells with low voltage loss and versatile photovoltaic applications

Abstract

All-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) have emerged as promising candidates for practical applications owing to their excellent stability and mechanical durability. Despite these merits, the device performance of all-PSCs still falls behind those based on small-molecule acceptors. The critical challenge lies in balancing and enhancing both the open-circuit voltage (VOC) and the short-circuit current density (JSC) in a synergistic manner. Herein, we designed an acceptor, PYO-V, with upshifted energy levels as well as blue-shifted absorption by linking alkoxy side chains on the β position of the outer thiophene units. The introduction of PYO-V into the PM6:PY-V-γ host system complements its absorption spectrum, improving its molecular packing, suppressing its charge recombination, and enhancing its polaron generation efficiency. Consequently, the resulting ternary all-PSCs with 20 wt% PYO-V achieved a significantly enhanced efficiency of 18.5%, which represents the highest value for reported all-PSCs with a VOC of over 0.93 V. Moreover, the hypsochromic PYO-V also displays its versatile applications in indoor photovoltaics, as the PYO-V-based binary device achieves an efficiency of over 24%, among the best performance for indoor all-PSCs. This work presents an effective strategy for designing polymer acceptors with wider bandgaps for outdoor and indoor photovoltaic applications.

Graphical abstract: An efficient alkoxy-substituted polymer acceptor for efficient all-polymer solar cells with low voltage loss and versatile photovoltaic applications

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Apr 2024
Accepted
28 May 2024
First published
24 Jun 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2024,17, 5191-5199

An efficient alkoxy-substituted polymer acceptor for efficient all-polymer solar cells with low voltage loss and versatile photovoltaic applications

H. Yu, C. Zhao, H. Hu, S. Zhu, B. Zou, T. A. Dela Peña, H. M. Ng, C. H. Kwok, J. Yi, W. Liu, M. Li, J. Wu, G. Zhang, Y. Chen and H. Yan, Energy Environ. Sci., 2024, 17, 5191 DOI: 10.1039/D4EE01804D

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