Single Component Organic Solar Cells Based on Oligothiophene-Fullerene Conjugate

Thanh Luan Nguyen, Tack Ho Lee, Bhoj Gautam, Song Yi Park, Kenan Gundogdu, Jin Young Kim, Han Young Woo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A new donor (D)–acceptor (A) conjugate, benzodithiophene-rhodanine–[6,6]-phenyl-C61 butyric acid methyl ester (BDTRh–PCBM) comprising three covalently linked blocks, one of p-type oligothiophene containing BDTRh moieties and two of n-type PCBM, is designed and synthesized. A single component organic solar cell (SCOSC) fabricated from BDTRh–PCBM exhibits the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.44% and maximum external quantum efficiency of 46%, which are the highest among the reported efficiencies so far. The SCOSC device shows efficient charge transfer (CT, ≈300 fs) and smaller CT energy loss, resulting in the higher open-circuit voltage of 0.97 V, compared to the binary blend (BDTRh:PCBM). Because of the integration of the donor and acceptor in a single molecule, BDTRh-PCBM has a specific D–A arrangement with less energetic disorder and reorganization energy than blend systems. In addition, the SCOSC device shows excellent device and morphological stabilities, showing no degradation of PCE at 80 °C for 100 h. The SCOSC approach may suggest a great way to suppress the large phase segregation of donor and acceptor domains with better morphological stability compared to the blend device.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1702474
JournalAdvanced Functional Materials
Volume27
Issue number39
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017 Oct 19

Keywords

  • charge transfer
  • energy loss
  • organic photovoltaics
  • single component solar cells
  • transient absorption spectroscopy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chemistry(all)
  • Materials Science(all)
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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