Issue 113, 2015

New advances in non-fullerene acceptor based organic solar cells

Abstract

Non-fullerene organic solar cells (NF-OSCs), in which an n-type organic molecule instead of a fullerene derivative is utilized as the electron-acceptor material, have recently emerged as a new topic in the field of organic solar cells. Replacement of the traditional fullerene acceptor in the photoactive layer of a normal organic solar cell with the organic acceptor gives rise to several advantages, like light absorption and energy level tunability, diversity of donor-to-acceptor combination, and large-scale production of acceptor materials. Studies on NF-OSCs can be traced back to 1986, when the first bilayered organic solar cell was proposed. Unfortunately, they has been advancing very slowly and the power-conversion-efficiency (PCE) was only approaching or exceeding 2% up to 2012. Fast advances have been driven forward since 2013, when the PCE value first broke through 4%, and the reported PCE value has now reached about 8% after a short period of 3 years. If we turn to natural systems such as the photosynthesis systems I and II, in which Nature utilizes organic molecules to accomplish high-efficiency solar-to-chemical energy conversion through the cascade unidirectional electron–hole transfer paths, we can rationally expect an even higher PCE and a convincing future for NF-OSCs. In this review, we will address recent new progress in this sub-branch of organic solar cells.

Graphical abstract: New advances in non-fullerene acceptor based organic solar cells

  • This article is part of the themed collection: Solar energy

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
01 sep 2015
Accepted
01 okt 2015
First published
08 okt 2015

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 93002-93026

New advances in non-fullerene acceptor based organic solar cells

C. Zhan, X. Zhang and J. Yao, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 93002 DOI: 10.1039/C5RA17715D

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements