TY - JOUR
T1 - Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors Based on Succinimide-Substituted Thiophene for Nonfullerene Organic Solar Cells
AU - Yuan, Yi
AU - Flynn, Scott
AU - Li, Xu
AU - Liu, Haitao
AU - Wang, Jinliang
AU - Li, Yuning
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 The Author(s). Macromolecular Rapid Communications published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2024/9
Y1 - 2024/9
N2 - The advent of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) has greatly improved the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, to compete with other solar cell technologies, there is a pressing need for accelerated research and development of improved NFAs as well as their compatible wide bandgap polymer donors. In this study, a novel electron-withdrawing building block, succinimide-substituted thiophene (TS), is utilized for the first time to synthesize three wide bandgap polymer donors: PBDT-TS-C5, PBDT-TSBT-C12, and PBDTF-TSBT-C16. These polymers exhibit complementary bandgaps for efficient sunlight harvesting and suitable frontier energy levels for exciton dissociation when paired with the extensively studied NFA, Y6. Among these donors, PBDTF-TSBT-C16 demonstrates the highest hole mobility and a relatively low highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level, attributed to the incorporation of thiophene spacers and electron-withdrawing fluorine substituents. OSC devices based on the blend of PBDTF-TSBT-C16:Y6 achieve the highest power conversion efficiency of 13.21%, with a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 26.83 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.80 V, and a fill factor of 0.62. Notably, the Voc × Jsc product reaches 21.46 mW cm−2, demonstrating the potential of TS as an electron acceptor building block for the development of high-performance wide bandgap polymer donors in OSCs.
AB - The advent of nonfullerene acceptors (NFAs) has greatly improved the photovoltaic performance of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, to compete with other solar cell technologies, there is a pressing need for accelerated research and development of improved NFAs as well as their compatible wide bandgap polymer donors. In this study, a novel electron-withdrawing building block, succinimide-substituted thiophene (TS), is utilized for the first time to synthesize three wide bandgap polymer donors: PBDT-TS-C5, PBDT-TSBT-C12, and PBDTF-TSBT-C16. These polymers exhibit complementary bandgaps for efficient sunlight harvesting and suitable frontier energy levels for exciton dissociation when paired with the extensively studied NFA, Y6. Among these donors, PBDTF-TSBT-C16 demonstrates the highest hole mobility and a relatively low highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level, attributed to the incorporation of thiophene spacers and electron-withdrawing fluorine substituents. OSC devices based on the blend of PBDTF-TSBT-C16:Y6 achieve the highest power conversion efficiency of 13.21%, with a short circuit current density (Jsc) of 26.83 mA cm−2, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.80 V, and a fill factor of 0.62. Notably, the Voc × Jsc product reaches 21.46 mW cm−2, demonstrating the potential of TS as an electron acceptor building block for the development of high-performance wide bandgap polymer donors in OSCs.
KW - nonfullerene acceptors
KW - organic solar cells
KW - succinimide-substituted thiophene
KW - wide bandgap polymers
KW - π-conjugated polymers
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85195657769&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/marc.202400275
DO - 10.1002/marc.202400275
M3 - Article
C2 - 38830087
AN - SCOPUS:85195657769
SN - 1022-1336
VL - 45
JO - Macromolecular Rapid Communications
JF - Macromolecular Rapid Communications
IS - 17
M1 - 2400275
ER -
