Ultra Robust and Highly Efficient Flexible Organic Solar Cells with Over 18 % Efficiency Realized by Incorporating a Linker Dimerized Acceptor

A linker dimer acceptor (DOY-TVT) was designed and synthesized. When incorporation of the DOY-TVT in D18:N3 system, the ductility and morphological stability of ternary blend films was successfully improved. A stabilized PCE of 18.06 % was obtained for flexible organic solar cells (f-OSCs) with ultrahigh mechanical robustness by incorporating DOY-TVT. Impressively, the optimal f-OSCs retain 97 % of the initial PCE even after 3000 bending cycles.
Abstract
The wearable application of flexible organic solar cells (f-OSCs) necessitates high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and mechanical robustness. However, photoactive films based on efficient non-fullerene small molecule acceptors (NF-SMAs) are typically brittle, leading to poor mechanical stability in devices. In this study, we achieved a remarkable PCE of 18.06 % in f-OSCs while maintaining ultrahigh mechanical robustness (with a crack-onset strain (COS) of higher than 11 %) by incorporating a linker dimerized acceptor (DOY-TVT). Compared to binary blends, ternary systems exhibit reduced non-radiative recombination, suppressed crystallization and diffusion of NF-SMAs, and improved load distribution across the chain networks, enabling the dissipation of the load energy. Thus, the ternary f-OSCs developed in this study achieved, high PCE and stability, surpassing binary OSCs. Moreover, the developed f-OSCs retained 97 % of the initial PCE even after 3000 bending cycles, indicating excellent mechanical stability (9.1 % higher than binary systems). Furthermore, the rigid device with inverted structure based on the optimal active layer exhibited a substantial increase in efficiency retention, with 89.6 % after 865 h at 85 °C and 93 % after more than 1300 h of shelf storage at 25 °C. These findings highlight the potential of the linker oligomer acceptor for realizing high-performing f-OSCs with ultrahigh mechanical robustness.
Wiley: Angewandte Chemie International Edition: Table of Contents
Authors: Wei Song, Qinrui Ye, Shuncheng Yang, Lin Xie, Yuanyuan Meng, Zhenyu Chen, Qun Gu, Daobin Yang, Jingyu Shi, Ziyi Ge
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202310034