Non-fullerene organic solar cells based on a BODIPY-polymer as electron donor with high photocurrent

Abstract

Boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)-based conjugated materials can show absorption spectra in the near-infrared (NIR) region, but organic solar cells (OSCs) based on these materials as donors provide an unsatisfactory photo-response, low photocurrent and hence low performance. Herein, a small band gap BODIPY-polymer as a donor combined with a fused ring electron acceptor was applied into non-fullerene OSCs, producing a broad photo-response from 300 nm to 1000 nm and hence a high short-circuit current density of over 21 mA cm⁻². As a consequence, a record efficiency of 9.86% was obtained for the BODIPY-polymer, indicating its potential applications in semitransparent devices.