Abstract
A novel imide-functionalized arene, di(fluorothienyl)thienothiophene diimide (f-FBTI2), featuring a fused backbone functionalized with electron-withdrawing F atoms, is designed, and the synthetic challenges associated with highly electron-deficient fluorinated imide are overcome. The incorporation of f-FBTI2 into polymer affords a high-performance n-type semiconductor f-FBTI2-T, which shows a reduced bandgap and lower-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level than the polymer analog without F or with F-functionalization on the donor moiety. These optoelectronic properties reflect the distinctive advantages of fluorination of electron-deficient acceptors, yielding “stronger acceptors,” which are desirable for n-type polymers. When used as a polymer acceptor in all-polymer solar cells, an excellent power conversion efficiency of 8.1% is achieved without any solvent additive or thermal treatment, which is the highest value reported for all-polymer solar cells except well-studied naphthalene diimide and perylene diimide-based n-type polymers. In addition, the solar cells show an energy loss of 0.53 eV, the smallest value reported to date for all-polymer solar cells with efficiency > 8%. These results demonstrate that fluorination of imide-functionalized arenes offers an effective approach for developing new electron-deficient building blocks with improved optoelectronic properties, and the emergence of f-FBTI2 will change the scenario in terms of developing n-type polymers for high-performance all-polymer solar cells.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1807220 |
| Journal | Advanced Materials |
| Volume | 31 |
| Issue number | 15 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 Apr 12 |
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Keywords
- all-polymer solar cells
- fluorination
- imide-functionalized arene
- n-type polymer
- organic electronics
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Materials Science(all)
- Mechanics of Materials
- Mechanical Engineering
Cite this
High-Performance All-Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by an n-Type Polymer Based on a Fluorinated Imide-Functionalized Arene. / Sun, Huiliang; Tang, Yumin; Koh, Chang Woo; Ling, Shaohua; Wang, Ruizhi; Yang, Kun; Yu, Jianwei; Shi, Yongqiang; Wang, Yingfeng; Woo, Han Young; Guo, Xugang.
In: Advanced Materials, Vol. 31, No. 15, 1807220, 12.04.2019.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - High-Performance All-Polymer Solar Cells Enabled by an n-Type Polymer Based on a Fluorinated Imide-Functionalized Arene
AU - Sun, Huiliang
AU - Tang, Yumin
AU - Koh, Chang Woo
AU - Ling, Shaohua
AU - Wang, Ruizhi
AU - Yang, Kun
AU - Yu, Jianwei
AU - Shi, Yongqiang
AU - Wang, Yingfeng
AU - Woo, Han Young
AU - Guo, Xugang
PY - 2019/4/12
Y1 - 2019/4/12
N2 - A novel imide-functionalized arene, di(fluorothienyl)thienothiophene diimide (f-FBTI2), featuring a fused backbone functionalized with electron-withdrawing F atoms, is designed, and the synthetic challenges associated with highly electron-deficient fluorinated imide are overcome. The incorporation of f-FBTI2 into polymer affords a high-performance n-type semiconductor f-FBTI2-T, which shows a reduced bandgap and lower-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level than the polymer analog without F or with F-functionalization on the donor moiety. These optoelectronic properties reflect the distinctive advantages of fluorination of electron-deficient acceptors, yielding “stronger acceptors,” which are desirable for n-type polymers. When used as a polymer acceptor in all-polymer solar cells, an excellent power conversion efficiency of 8.1% is achieved without any solvent additive or thermal treatment, which is the highest value reported for all-polymer solar cells except well-studied naphthalene diimide and perylene diimide-based n-type polymers. In addition, the solar cells show an energy loss of 0.53 eV, the smallest value reported to date for all-polymer solar cells with efficiency > 8%. These results demonstrate that fluorination of imide-functionalized arenes offers an effective approach for developing new electron-deficient building blocks with improved optoelectronic properties, and the emergence of f-FBTI2 will change the scenario in terms of developing n-type polymers for high-performance all-polymer solar cells.
AB - A novel imide-functionalized arene, di(fluorothienyl)thienothiophene diimide (f-FBTI2), featuring a fused backbone functionalized with electron-withdrawing F atoms, is designed, and the synthetic challenges associated with highly electron-deficient fluorinated imide are overcome. The incorporation of f-FBTI2 into polymer affords a high-performance n-type semiconductor f-FBTI2-T, which shows a reduced bandgap and lower-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level than the polymer analog without F or with F-functionalization on the donor moiety. These optoelectronic properties reflect the distinctive advantages of fluorination of electron-deficient acceptors, yielding “stronger acceptors,” which are desirable for n-type polymers. When used as a polymer acceptor in all-polymer solar cells, an excellent power conversion efficiency of 8.1% is achieved without any solvent additive or thermal treatment, which is the highest value reported for all-polymer solar cells except well-studied naphthalene diimide and perylene diimide-based n-type polymers. In addition, the solar cells show an energy loss of 0.53 eV, the smallest value reported to date for all-polymer solar cells with efficiency > 8%. These results demonstrate that fluorination of imide-functionalized arenes offers an effective approach for developing new electron-deficient building blocks with improved optoelectronic properties, and the emergence of f-FBTI2 will change the scenario in terms of developing n-type polymers for high-performance all-polymer solar cells.
KW - all-polymer solar cells
KW - fluorination
KW - imide-functionalized arene
KW - n-type polymer
KW - organic electronics
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85061578891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85061578891&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/adma.201807220
DO - 10.1002/adma.201807220
M3 - Article
C2 - 30767296
AN - SCOPUS:85061578891
VL - 31
JO - Advanced Materials
JF - Advanced Materials
SN - 0935-9648
IS - 15
M1 - 1807220
ER -