Issue 11, 2019

Double-caged fullerene acceptors: effect of alkyl chain length on photovoltaic performance

Abstract

We report the synthesis and spectroscopic and electrochemical characterization of the benzyl, C4, C6, C8, C9, C10, and C18n-alkyl esters of double-caged fullerene compounds (dFR). Counterintuitively, their solubility depends nonmonotonically on the alkyl chain length with a minimum at n-octyl. The series of dFR compounds were tested in organic solar cells (OSCs) as an acceptor material blended with the poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT) donor. With the exception of the n-octadecyl derivative, the performance of the P3HT/dFR solar cells correlates with the solubility of the dFR component, likely due to the improved bulk heterojunction morphology and its favorable effect on JSCvia lower series resistance. A peak PCE of 3.0% was found for the n-nonyl compound, thus exceeding other known fullerene oligomers with fused fullerene cages or cross-linked fullerene dimers. The poor performance of compounds with too long alkyl chains like n-octadecyl reflects larger series resistance that results from a higher degree of phase segregation.

Graphical abstract: Double-caged fullerene acceptors: effect of alkyl chain length on photovoltaic performance

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Nov 2018
Accepted
13 Feb 2019
First published
14 Feb 2019

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019,7, 3278-3285

Double-caged fullerene acceptors: effect of alkyl chain length on photovoltaic performance

V. A. Brotsman, A. V. Rybalchenko, D. N. Zubov, D. Yu. Paraschuk and A. A. Goryunkov, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2019, 7, 3278 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC05971C

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