Issue 48, 2018

A small-molecule acceptor incorporating a silicon bridging atom for efficient nonfullerene polymer solar cells

Abstract

Recently, there have been rapid advances in polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on nonfullerene small-molecule acceptors (n-SMAs) due to their outstanding properties. Silicon, which is a member of group 14 in the periodic table, may endow small-molecule acceptors with unique properties, especially when it is incorporated into conjugated backbones. In this work, a narrow band gap n-SMA based on a dithienosilole (DTS) unit incorporating silicon bridging atom, named Si4TIC-F, was designed and synthesized. Si4TIC-F has a rigid, planar conjugated backbone, benefiting intermolecular stacking and charge transport. Pairing Si4TIC-F with a wide band gap copolymer, poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]-dithiophene-alt-N-(2-hexyldecyl)-5′5-bis[3-(decylthio)thiophene-2-yl]-2′2-bithiophene-3′3-dicarboximide] (PBTIBDTT), achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 10.2%. The PCE is much better than those of other systems with DTS-based acceptors. Our results demonstrate the potential of the classical DTS unit in constructing new n-SMAs to realize high-performance nonfullerene PSCs, which will help advance the development of PSCs.

Graphical abstract: A small-molecule acceptor incorporating a silicon bridging atom for efficient nonfullerene polymer solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
27 Sep 2018
Accepted
31 Oct 2018
First published
07 Nov 2018

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018,6, 13211-13217

A small-molecule acceptor incorporating a silicon bridging atom for efficient nonfullerene polymer solar cells

G. Zeng, J. Ouyang, Y. Xin, X. Zhao and X. Yang, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2018, 6, 13211 DOI: 10.1039/C8TC04883E

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements