Issue 40, 2017

Impact of highly crystalline, isoindigo-based small-molecular additives for enhancing the performance of all-polymer solar cells

Abstract

We have developed a simple yet versatile approach for enhancing the performance of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) using a highly crystalline small-molecular additive, 6,6′-dithiopheneisoindigo (DTI). The DTI additive in a blend of PTB7-Th donor and P(NDI2HD-T) acceptor enhances the power conversion efficiency of all-PSCs from 5.9 to 6.8%. Based on the analyses of the electrical, optical, and structural properties of all-PSCs, it is suggested that DTI additives promote tighter π–π packing and larger sizes of crystalline domains. Such morphological changes of the PTB7-Th:P(NDI2HD-T) blend films upon the addition of DTI enhance the exciton lifetime and diffusion length, which are proved by static and femtosecond-transient absorption spectroscopies and time-resolved photoluminescence. As a result of improved exciton dissociation probability and charge transport, the short-circuit current density of all-PSCs is greatly increased. Importantly, we also show that the DTI additive can be applied to other all-PSC systems with different polymer donors and naphthalene diimide (NDI)-based polymer acceptors, where the efficiencies of all-PSCs are enhanced by 10–20%.

Graphical abstract: Impact of highly crystalline, isoindigo-based small-molecular additives for enhancing the performance of all-polymer solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
06 Aug 2017
Accepted
11 Sep 2017
First published
12 Sep 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 21291-21299

Impact of highly crystalline, isoindigo-based small-molecular additives for enhancing the performance of all-polymer solar cells

H. Cho, G. Han, R. Younts, W. Lee, B. R. Gautam, S. Lee, C. Lee, T. Kim, F. S. Kim, K. Gundogdu and B. J. Kim, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 21291 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA06939A

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