Issue 6, 2019

Critical review of the molecular design progress in non-fullerene electron acceptors towards commercially viable organic solar cells

Abstract

Fullerenes have formed an integral part of high performance organic solar cells over the last 20 years, however their inherent limitations in terms of synthetic flexibility, cost and stability have acted as a motivation to develop replacements; the so-called non-fullerene electron acceptors. A rapid evolution of such materials has taken place over the last few years, yielding a number of promising candidates that can exceed the device performance of fullerenes and provide opportunities to improve upon the stability and processability of organic solar cells. In this review we explore the structure–property relationships of a library of non-fullerene acceptors, highlighting the important chemical modifications that have led to progress in the field and provide an outlook for future innovations in electron acceptors for use in organic photovoltaics.

Graphical abstract: Critical review of the molecular design progress in non-fullerene electron acceptors towards commercially viable organic solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
21 12 2017
First published
26 4 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Soc. Rev., 2019,48, 1596-1625

Critical review of the molecular design progress in non-fullerene electron acceptors towards commercially viable organic solar cells

A. Wadsworth, M. Moser, A. Marks, M. S. Little, N. Gasparini, C. J. Brabec, D. Baran and I. McCulloch, Chem. Soc. Rev., 2019, 48, 1596 DOI: 10.1039/C7CS00892A

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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