Dilution effect for highly efficient multiple-component organic solar cells

Lijian Zuo; Sae Byeok Jo; Yaokai Li; Yuhuan Meng; Ryan J Stoddard; Yun Liu; Francis Lin; Xueliang Shi; Feng Liu; Hugh W Hillhouse; David S Ginger; Hongzheng Chen; Alex K-Y Jen

doi:10.1038/s41565-021-01011-1

Dilution effect for highly efficient multiple-component organic solar cells

Nat Nanotechnol. 2022 Jan;17(1):53-60. doi: 10.1038/s41565-021-01011-1. Epub 2021 Dec 6.

Authors

Lijian Zuo^#^{1

2

3}, Sae Byeok Jo^#^{1

4}, Yaokai Li^#², Yuhuan Meng⁵, Ryan J Stoddard⁵, Yun Liu⁶, Francis Lin^{6

7}, Xueliang Shi¹, Feng Liu⁸, Hugh W Hillhouse⁵, David S Ginger⁶, Hongzheng Chen⁹, Alex K-Y Jen^{10

11

12

13

14

15}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
² State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China.
³ Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ School of Chemical Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Chemical Engineering, Molecular Engineering and Sciences Institute, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁷ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
⁸ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai, China.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. hzchen@zju.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.
¹¹ State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, MOE Key Laboratory of Macromolecular Synthesis and Functionalization, Department of Polymer Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.
¹² Department of Chemistry, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.
¹³ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.
¹⁴ Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.
¹⁵ Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy, Hong Kong, Hong Kong. alexjen@cityu.edu.hk.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 34873302
DOI: 10.1038/s41565-021-01011-1

Abstract

Although the multiple-component (MC) blend strategy has been frequently used as a very effective way to improve the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs), there is a strong need to understand the fundamental working mechanism and material selection rule for achieving optimal MC-OSCs. Here we present the 'dilution effect' as the mechanism for MC-OSCs, where two highly miscible components are molecularly intermixed. Contrary to the aggregation-induced non-radiative decay, the dilution effect enables higher luminescence quantum efficiencies and open-circuit voltages (V_OC) in MC-OSCs via suppressed electron-vibration coupling. The continuously broadened bandgap together with reduced electron-vibration coupling also explains the composition-dependent V_OC in ternary blends well. Moreover, we show that electrons can transfer between different acceptors, depending on the energy offset between them, which contributes to the largely unperturbed charge transport and high fill factors in MC-OSCs. The discovery of the dilution effect enables the demonstration of a high power conversion efficiency of 18.31% in an MC-OSC.

Abstract

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