Issue 6, 2013

High-efficiency polymer solar cells with a cost-effective quinoxaline polymer through nanoscale morphology control induced by practical processing additives

Abstract

In the quest to improve the performance of polymer solar cells (PSCs) with a view to realizing economic viability, various solvent additives such as 1,8-octanedithiol (ODT), 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO), diphenylether (DPE) and 1-chloronaphthalene (CN) are used in easily obtainable poly(2,3-bis-(3-octyloxyphenyl)quinoxaline-5,8-dyl-alt-thiophene-2,5-diyl) (TQ1)-based systems with [6,6]-phenyl C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as an acceptor to optimize the active layer nanomorphology. Utilizing a combination of X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), we find that the addition of 5% (v/v) CN leads to smoother films, less heterogeneous surface features, and well-distributed TQ1:PC71BM phases, resulting in more balanced charge transport in the devices and a highly efficient power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.08%. This is a record for quinoxaline-based PCSs and is also comparable with the hitherto reported highest efficiency of the PSCs in single junction devices. In addition, the PSCs using an inverted device structure show a satisfactory PCE of 5.83% with high stability to ambient exposure, maintaining over 80% of its initial PCE, even after storage in air for more than 1 month.

Graphical abstract: High-efficiency polymer solar cells with a cost-effective quinoxaline polymer through nanoscale morphology control induced by practical processing additives

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
12 Jan 2013
Accepted
28 Mar 2013
First published
02 Apr 2013

Energy Environ. Sci., 2013,6, 1909-1916

High-efficiency polymer solar cells with a cost-effective quinoxaline polymer through nanoscale morphology control induced by practical processing additives

Y. Kim, H. R. Yeom, J. Y. Kim and C. Yang, Energy Environ. Sci., 2013, 6, 1909 DOI: 10.1039/C3EE00110E

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