Fullerene-free organic solar cells with an efficiency of 3.7% based on a low-cost geometrically planar perylene diimide monomer

Singh, R.; Aluicio-Sarduy, E.; Kan, Z.; Ye, T.; MacKenzie, R.C.I.; Keivanidis, P.E.

Abstract

The aggregate-induced limitation for high power-conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of perylene-diimide (PDI): polymer solar cells can be circumvented when two simple rules are respected; the aggregate size of PDI remains short enough and the omnipresent PDI aggregates are electronically interconnected. Following these guidelines, a PCE of 3.7% is delivered by using the solution-processable, planar PDI monomer of N,N’-bis(1-ethylpropyl)-perylene-3,4,9,10-tetracarboxylic diimide as the electron acceptor mixed with the low-energy gap polymeric donor poly[(4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)-benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b’]dithiophene)-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexanoyl)-thieno[3,4-b]thiophene))-2,6-diyl] (PBDTTT-CT). The PBDTTT-CT:PDI composite absorbs strongly the light in the region of 400 nm–800 nm and after adding a small amount of 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) efficient photocurrent generation is achieved. Space-charge limited dark current and transient photovoltage measurements suggest that the use of the DIO component optimizes the electron/hole carrier mobility ratio, suppresses the non-geminate recombination losses and improves the charge extraction efficiency.

Citation

Singh, R., Aluicio-Sarduy, E., Kan, Z., Ye, T., MacKenzie, R., & Keivanidis, P. (2014). Fullerene-free organic solar cells with an efficiency of 3.7% based on a low-cost geometrically planar perylene diimide monomer. Journal of Materials Chemistry A, 2(35), 14348-14353. https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ta02851a

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 22, 2014
• Online Publication Date: Jul 22, 2014
• Publication Date: Aug 12, 2014
• Deposit Date: Oct 30, 2018
• Journal: Journal of Materials Chemistry A
• Print ISSN: 2050-7488
• Electronic ISSN: 2050-7496
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 35
• Pages: 14348-14353
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/c4ta02851a
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1210697
• Publisher URL: https://pubs.rsc.org/en/Content/ArticleLanding/2014/TA/C4TA02851A#!divAbstract