Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics

Guichuan Zhang; Francis R Lin; Feng Qi; Thomas Heumüller; Andreas Distler; Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf; Ning Li; Philip C Y Chow; Christoph J Brabec; Alex K-Y Jen; Hin-Lap Yip

doi:10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00955

Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics

Chem Rev. 2022 Sep 28;122(18):14180-14274. doi: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00955. Epub 2022 Aug 5.

Authors

Guichuan Zhang^{1

2}, Francis R Lin^{3

4}, Feng Qi^{3

4}, Thomas Heumüller^{5

6}, Andreas Distler⁵, Hans-Joachim Egelhaaf^{5

6}, Ning Li¹, Philip C Y Chow⁷, Christoph J Brabec^{5

6}, Alex K-Y Jen^{3

4

8

9}, Hin-Lap Yip^{1

3

8

9}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, School of Materials Science and Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, China.
² School of Semiconductor Science and Technology, South China Normal University, Foshan 528225, China.
³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China.
⁴ Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ Institute of Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET), Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Martensstrasse 7, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
⁶ Helmholtz Institute Erlangen-Nürnberg (HI ERN), Immerwahrstrasse 2, 91058 Erlangen, Germany.
⁷ Department of Mechanical Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam 999077, Hong Kong, China.
⁸ School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China.
⁹ Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon 999077, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 35929847
DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00955

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have progressed steadily through three stages of photoactive materials development: (i) use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and fullerene-based acceptors (FAs) for optimizing bulk heterojunctions; (ii) development of new donors to better match with FAs; (iii) development of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). The development and application of NFAs with an A-D-A configuration (where A = acceptor and D = donor) has enabled devices to have efficient charge generation and small energy losses (E_loss < 0.6 eV), resulting in substantially higher power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) than FA-based devices. The discovery of Y6-type acceptors (Y6 = 2,2'-((2Z,2'Z)-((12,13-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,9-diundecyl-12,13-dihydro-[1,2,5]-thiadiazolo[3,4-e]-thieno[2″,3″:4',5']thieno-[2',3':4,5]pyrrolo-[3,2-g]thieno-[2',3':4,5]thieno-[3,2-b]indole-2,10-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(5,6-difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene))dimalononitrile) with an A-DA' D-A configuration has further propelled the PCEs to go beyond 15% due to smaller E_loss values (∼0.5 eV) and higher external quantum efficiencies. Subsequently, the PCEs of Y6-series single-junction devices have increased to >19% and may soon approach 20%. This review provides an update of recent progress of OPV in the following aspects: developments of novel NFAs and donors, understanding of the structure-property relationships and underlying mechanisms of state-of-the-art OPVs, and tasks underpinning the commercialization of OPVs, such as device stability, module development, potential applications, and high-throughput manufacturing. Finally, an outlook and prospects section summarizes the remaining challenges for the further development of OPV technology.

Publication types

Review