Issue 18, 2018

N-Annulated perylene diimide derivatives as non-fullerene acceptors for solution-processed solar cells with an open-circuit voltage of up to 1.14 V

Abstract

Three different non-fullerene small molecular acceptors containing N-annulated perylene diimide, named di-PNR, TPA-PNR and EDOT-PNR, were successfully designed and synthesized for photovoltaic applications. Introducing an electron donating unit such as triphenylamine (TPA) or 2,3-dihydrothieno[3,4-b][1,4]dioxine (EDOT) into the N-annulated PDI derivatives significantly influences the light-harvesting capabilities, energy level, morphology as well as the photovoltaic performance. Preliminarily, TPA-PNR and EDOT-PNR possessed lower band gaps and higher HOMO/LUMO energy levels. Power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 5.29% and 4.54% were obtained for the inverted solar cells based on the blends of PTB7-Th/di-PNR and PTB7-Th/TPA-PNR, respectively, resulting from the smooth morphology of the blend films and the intense light absorption that increases the Jsc and FF. Under the same optimization conditions, EDOT-PNR exhibited a low PCE of 1.6% with a remarkably high Voc of 1.14 V because of its higher LUMO energy level, which was one of the highest Voc values reported for organic solar cells using N-annulated PDI derivatives as electron acceptors. Our work offers effective guidelines for the design of non-fullerene acceptors using N-annulated PDI derivatives.

Graphical abstract: N-Annulated perylene diimide derivatives as non-fullerene acceptors for solution-processed solar cells with an open-circuit voltage of up to 1.14 V

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
28 May 2018
Accepted
30 Jul 2018
First published
31 Jul 2018

New J. Chem., 2018,42, 15079-15087

N-Annulated perylene diimide derivatives as non-fullerene acceptors for solution-processed solar cells with an open-circuit voltage of up to 1.14 V

F. You, X. Zhou, H. Huang, Y. Liu, S. Liu, J. Shao, B. Zhao, T. Qin and W. Huang, New J. Chem., 2018, 42, 15079 DOI: 10.1039/C8NJ02566E

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