Efficient soluble PTCBI-type non-fullerene acceptor materials for organic solar cells

Xiang Gao; Fengbo Sun; Xinzhu Tong; Xufan Zheng; Yinuo Wang; Cong Xiao; Pengcheng Li; Renqiang Yang; Xunchang Wang; Zhitian Liu

doi:10.1007/s12200-023-00063-6

Efficient soluble PTCBI-type non-fullerene acceptor materials for organic solar cells

Front Optoelectron. 2023 Apr 23;16(1):8. doi: 10.1007/s12200-023-00063-6.

Authors

Xiang Gao^#¹, Fengbo Sun^#^{2

3}, Xinzhu Tong², Xufan Zheng³, Yinuo Wang², Cong Xiao³, Pengcheng Li², Renqiang Yang³, Xunchang Wang⁴, Zhitian Liu^{5

6}

Affiliations

¹ Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center of Optoelectronic and New Energy Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Plasma Chemistry and Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, China. xgao@wit.edu.cn.
² Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center of Optoelectronic and New Energy Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Plasma Chemistry and Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Chemical Materials and Devices (Ministry of Education), School of Optoelectronic Materials & Technology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Chemical Materials and Devices (Ministry of Education), School of Optoelectronic Materials & Technology, Jianghan University, Wuhan, 430056, China. wangxc@jhun.edu.cn.
⁵ Hubei Engineering Technology Research Center of Optoelectronic and New Energy Materials, Hubei Key Laboratory of Plasma Chemistry and Advanced Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Wuhan Institute of Technology, Wuhan, 430205, China. able.ztliu@wit.edu.cn.
⁶ Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430074, China. able.ztliu@wit.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Single perylene diimide (PDI) used as a non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) in organic solar cells (OSCs) is enticing because of its low cost and excellent stability. To improve the photovoltaic performance, it is vital to narrow the bandgap and regulate the stacking behavior. To address this challenge, we synthesize soluble perylenetetracarboxylic bisbenzimidazole (PTCBI) molecules with a bulky side chain at the bay region, by replacing the widely used "swallow tail" type alkyl chains at the imide position of PDI molecules with a planar benzimidazole structure. Compared with PDI molecules, PTCBI molecules exhibit red-shifted UV-vis absorption spectra with larger extinction coefficient, and one magnitude higher electron mobility. Finally, OSCs based on one soluble PTCBI-type NFA, namely MAS-7, exhibit a champion power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.34%, which is significantly higher than that of the corresponding PDI-based OSCs and is the highest PCE of PTCBI-based OSCs reported. These results highlight the potential of soluble PTCBI derivatives as NFAs in OSCs.

Keywords: Non-fullerene acceptor; Organic solar cells; Soluble PTCBI.