Issue 9, 2016

Donor–π–donor type hole transporting materials: marked π-bridge effects on optoelectronic properties, solid-state structure, and perovskite solar cell efficiency

Abstract

Donor–π-bridge–donor type oligomers (D–π–D) have been studied intensively as active materials for organic optoelectronic devices. In this study, we introduce three new D–π–D type organic semiconductors incorporating thiophene or thienothiophene with two electron-rich TPA units, which can be easily synthesized from commercially available materials. A thorough comparison of their optoelectronic and structural properties was conducted, revealing the strong influence of the extent of longitudinal π-bridge conjugation on both the solid structure of the organic semiconductive materials and their photovoltaic performance when applied as hole transporting materials (HTM) in perovskite solar cells. Single-crystal measurements and time-resolved photoluminescence (TRPL) studies indicate that these coplanar donor–π–donor type HTMs could be promising alternatives to state-of-the-art spiro-OMeTAD, due to the multiple intermolecular short contacts as charge transporting channels and efficient charge extraction properties from the perovskite layer. The optimized devices with PEH-9 exhibited an impressive PCE of 16.9% under standard global AM 1.5 illumination with minimized hysteretic behaviour, which is comparable to that of devices using spiro-OMeTAD under similar conditions. Ambient stability after 400 h revealed that 93% of the energy conversion efficiency was retained for PEH-9, indicating that the devices had good long-term stability.

Graphical abstract: Donor–π–donor type hole transporting materials: marked π-bridge effects on optoelectronic properties, solid-state structure, and perovskite solar cell efficiency

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
04 apr 2016
Accepted
24 mei 2016
First published
24 mei 2016
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2016,7, 6068-6075

Donor–π–donor type hole transporting materials: marked π-bridge effects on optoelectronic properties, solid-state structure, and perovskite solar cell efficiency

S. Paek, I. Zimmermann, P. Gao, P. Gratia, K. Rakstys, G. Grancini, M. K. Nazeeruddin, M. A. Rub, S. A. Kosa, K. A. Alamry and A. M. Asiri, Chem. Sci., 2016, 7, 6068 DOI: 10.1039/C6SC01478J

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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