TY - JOUR
T1 - Enhancing the JSC of P3HT-Based OSCs via a Thiophene-Fused Aromatic Heterocycle as a "π-Bridge" for A-π-D-π-A-Type Acceptors
AU - Wang, Jiacheng
AU - Li, Tengfei
AU - Wang, Xiaoxiao
AU - Xiao, Yiqun
AU - Zhong, Cheng
AU - Wang, Jiayu
AU - Liu, Kuan
AU - Lu, Xinhui
AU - Zhan, Xiaowei
AU - Chen, Xingguo
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was financially supported by the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province (No. 2018AAA013).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2019/7/24
Y1 - 2019/7/24
N2 - Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-based organic solar cells (OSCs) have been extensively studied due to unique advantages of P3HT such as roll-to-roll and large-area printing fabrication, but a poor short-circuit current density greatly limits the enhancement of power conversion efficiency (PCE). Herein, via the thiophene-fused aromatic heterocycle as a "π-bridge", two "A-π-D-π-A"-type acceptors have been designed and synthesized for P3HT-based OSCs. The aromaticity of the fused thiophene ring has effectively stabilized the quinoid population, thus strengthening the intramolecular charge transfer and further improving the current density. Owing to the weaker electron-withdrawing ability of the thiophene-fused benzotriazole unit in JC2 than the thiophene-fused benzothiadiazole unit in JC1, a blue-shifted absorption occurs for JC2 to show a better complementarity with P3HT to improve the light-harvesting efficiency and current density of the derived OSCs, and an uplifted lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level is also achieved for JC2 to obtain higher voltages. Thus, the P3HT:JC2-based device exhibits a PCE of 6.24% with a high JSC of 13.96 mA cm-2 and a VOC of 0.71 V, significantly exceeding those of the P3HT:JC1 device with a PCE of 2.80%, a JSC of 10.66 mA cm-2, and a VOC of 0.48 V. This indicates that the fusion of a thiophene ring onto a benzotriazole unit is an effective strategy to balance the VOC and JSC of P3HT-based OSCs to achieve excellent photovoltaic performances.
AB - Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)-based organic solar cells (OSCs) have been extensively studied due to unique advantages of P3HT such as roll-to-roll and large-area printing fabrication, but a poor short-circuit current density greatly limits the enhancement of power conversion efficiency (PCE). Herein, via the thiophene-fused aromatic heterocycle as a "π-bridge", two "A-π-D-π-A"-type acceptors have been designed and synthesized for P3HT-based OSCs. The aromaticity of the fused thiophene ring has effectively stabilized the quinoid population, thus strengthening the intramolecular charge transfer and further improving the current density. Owing to the weaker electron-withdrawing ability of the thiophene-fused benzotriazole unit in JC2 than the thiophene-fused benzothiadiazole unit in JC1, a blue-shifted absorption occurs for JC2 to show a better complementarity with P3HT to improve the light-harvesting efficiency and current density of the derived OSCs, and an uplifted lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level is also achieved for JC2 to obtain higher voltages. Thus, the P3HT:JC2-based device exhibits a PCE of 6.24% with a high JSC of 13.96 mA cm-2 and a VOC of 0.71 V, significantly exceeding those of the P3HT:JC1 device with a PCE of 2.80%, a JSC of 10.66 mA cm-2, and a VOC of 0.48 V. This indicates that the fusion of a thiophene ring onto a benzotriazole unit is an effective strategy to balance the VOC and JSC of P3HT-based OSCs to achieve excellent photovoltaic performances.
KW - A-Ï€-D-Ï€-A type
KW - nonfullerene acceptor
KW - P3HT
KW - photovoltaic performances
KW - thiophene-fused aromatic heterocycle
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85070485075&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acsami.9b08007
DO - 10.1021/acsami.9b08007
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 31294959
AN - SCOPUS:85070485075
SN - 1944-8244
VL - 11
SP - 26005
EP - 26016
JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
IS - 29
ER -