Two conjugated polymers, with different side chains of alkoxy-substituted difluorobenzene and alkyl-substituted difluorobenzene based on quinoxaline (Qx) as the electron acceptor unit and benzodithiophene as the electron donor unit, named HFQx-T and HFAQx-T, were used as electron donor polymers to fabricate all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) with a naphthalenediimide-bithiophene n-type semiconducting polymer (N2200). Usually, halogenated solvents are harmful to natural environment and human beings, and solvent additives were disadvantageous in the process of roll-to-roll technology. The Qx-based polymers are successfully used to fabricate high-performance all-PSCs, which processed with the nonhalogenated solvent tetrahydrofuran (THF) at room temperature. With THF as the processing solvent, the active layer showed a higher absorption coefficient, better phase separation, exciton dissociation, and charge carrier mobilities than that processed with CHCl3. Moreover, the photovoltaic properties have been dramatically improved with THF. The optimized device of HFAQx-T:N2200 processed with THF delivered an efficient power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.45%, which is the highest PCE for all-PSCs from Qx-based polymers processed by a nonhalogenated solvent.
Keywords: additive free; all-PSCs; efficient photovoltaics; nonhalogenated solvent; side chains.