Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control
Abstract The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is exceeding 20%, an advance in which morphology optimization has played a significant role. It is generally accepted that the processing solvent (or solvent mixture) can help optimize morphology, impacting the OSC efficiency. Here we develop OSCs that show strong tolerance to a range of processing solvents, with all devices delivering high power conversion efficiencies around 19%. By investigating the solution states, the film formation dynamics and the characteristics of the processed films both experimentally and computationally, we identify the key factors that control morphology, that is, the interactions between the side chains of the acceptor materials and the solvent as well as the interactions between the donor and acceptor materials. Our work provides new understanding on the long-standing question of morphology control and effective guides to design OSC materials towards practical applications, where green solvents are required for large-scale processing.
Authors
- Heng Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6035-3428)
- Jiřı́ Brus (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2692-612X)
- Libor Kobera (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8826-948X)
- Qing Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0660-596X)
- Jean‐Luc Brédas (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7278-4471)
- Chenhui Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7452-2288)
- Tonghui Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5027-1541)
- Aidan H. Coffey (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3803-4965)
- Ying Diao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8984-0051)
- Sadisha Nanayakkara (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1316-1888)
- Veaceslav Coropceanu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1693-2315)
- Xinhui Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1908-3294)
- Junyuan Ding
- Yuting Huang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3136-757X)
- Lilin He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9560-8101)
- Yaowen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7229-582X)
- Sabina Abbrent (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4228-4059)
- Rui Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1008-5832)
- Azzaya Khasbaatar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4145-3511)
- Weijie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7614-1702)
- Yongfang Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2565-2748)
- Haiyang Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9144-0631)
- Ben Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4473-9184)
- Feng wei Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2582-1740)
- Jialei Zheng
Institutions
- Linköping University (SE)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- University of Arizona (US)
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (US)
- University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (US)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- Jilin University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Soochow University (CN)
- Czech Academy of Sciences, Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry (CZ)
- Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Energy
- Published
- 2024-12-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5
- Citations
- 76
- Primary Topic
- Organic Electronics and Photovoltaics
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 15.86
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- University of Arizona
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Grantová Agentura České Republiky
- Linköpings Universitet
- Office of Science
- Office of Naval Research
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory
- Office of Naval Research Global