Efficient All-Polymer Solar Cells with Sequentially Processed Active Layers

Polymers (Basel). 2022 May 18;14(10):2058. doi: 10.3390/polym14102058.

Abstract

In this work, we apply the sequential processing (SqP) method to address the relatively low electron mobility in recent all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) based on the polymerized small-molecule acceptor (PSMA). Compared to the blend-casting (BC) method, all-PSCs composed of PM6/PY-IT via the SqP method show boosted electron mobility and a more balanced charge carrier transport, which increases the FF of the SqP device and compensates for the short-circuit current loss, rendering comparable overall performance with the BC device. Through film-depth-dependent light absorption spectroscopy, we analyze the sub-layer absorption and exciton generation rate in the vertical direction of the device, and discuss the effect of the increased electron mobility on device performance, accordingly.

Keywords: all-polymer solar cells; polymerized small-molecule acceptors; sequential processing.