Issue 7, 2023

1,4-Azaborine based unfused non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells

Abstract

1,4-Azaborine, containing both boron and nitrogen in an aromatic hydrocarbon, displays unique electronic properties compared with its all-carbon analogue and shows great potential as a multiresonant thermally activated delayed fluorescence material. However, conjugated molecules featuring 1,4-azaborine for organic solar cells (OSCs) have not yet been explored. In this study, two novel acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) conjugated molecules, ABBT-BO and ABBT-DT, using dithieno-1,4-azaborine as the core D unit have been designed and synthesized. Both molecules exhibited excellent solubility, strong and broad absorption and appropriate energy levels, enabling them to be promising candidates for non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). It was found that the shorter alkyl chain of ABBT-BO could endow the device with superior morphology, resulting in more sufficient exciton dissociation, improved carrier transport and suppressed charge recombination. Impressively, PM6:ABBT-BO based OSCs achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.07% with an open-circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.900 V, a short-circuit current density (JSC) of 16.41 mA cm−2, and a fill factor (FF) of 68.16%, which is the highest efficiency reported for NFAs featuring BN-heteroarenes. This work demonstrates the significant potential of 1,4-BN-heteroarenes for constructing novel NFAs toward high-performance OSCs.

Graphical abstract: 1,4-Azaborine based unfused non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
25 11 2022
Accepted
15 1 2023
First published
16 1 2023

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023,11, 3653-3662

1,4-Azaborine based unfused non-fullerene acceptors for organic solar cells

S. Chen, M. Dong, Y. Bai, Y. Chen, Y. Fu, L. Shao, X. Lu, C. Liu, K. Zhang, H. Wu and F. Huang, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2023, 11, 3653 DOI: 10.1039/D2TA09188G

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