An Electron Acceptor Challenging Fullerenes for Efficient Polymer Solar CellsYuze Lin, Jiayu Wang, Zhiguo Zhang et al.|Advanced Materials|2015 A novel non-fullerene electron acceptor (ITIC) that overcomes some of the shortcomings of fullerene acceptors, for example, weak absorption in the visible spectral region and limited energy-level variability, is designed and synthesized. Fullerene-free polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on the ITIC acceptor are demonstrated to exhibit power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.8%, a record for fullerene-free PSCs. As a service to our authors and readers, this journal provides supporting information supplied by the authors. Such materials are peer reviewed and may be re-organized for online delivery, but are not copy-edited or typeset. Technical support issues arising from supporting information (other than missing files) should be addressed to the authors. Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
High-performance fullerene-free polymer solar cells with 6.31% efficiencyYuze Lin, Zhiguo Zhang, Huitao Bai et al.|Energy & Environmental Science|2014 A nonfullerene electron acceptor (IEIC) based on indaceno[1,2-<italic>b</italic>:5,6-<italic>b</italic>′]dithiophene and 2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydroinden-1-ylidene)malononitrile was designed and synthesized, and fullerene-free polymer solar cells based on the IEIC acceptor showed power conversion efficiencies of up to 6.31%.
A planar electron acceptor for efficient polymer solar cellsYao Wu, Huitao Bai, Zaiyu Wang et al.|Energy & Environmental Science|2015 Polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on blended films of a novel planar acceptor and P3HT gave power conversion efficiencies of up to 5.12%, which are much higher than that of PC 61 BM-based control devices (3.71%) and the highest values reported for P3HT-based fullerene-free PSCs.
An electron acceptor based on indacenodithiophene and 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone for fullerene-free organic solar cellsHuitao Bai, Yifan Wang, Pei Cheng et al.|Journal of Materials Chemistry A|2014 A novel small molecule based on indacenodithiophene and 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone was synthesized and used as an electron acceptor in solution processed organic solar cells, which exhibited a power conversion efficiency as high as 3.93%.
Acceptor–Donor–Acceptor Small Molecules Based on Indacenodithiophene for Efficient Organic Solar CellsHuitao Bai, Yifan Wang, Pei Cheng et al.|ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces|2014 Four A-D-A type small molecules using 4,4,9,9-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)- indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b']dithiophene as central building block, bithiophene or terthiophene as π-bridges, alkyl cyanoacetate or rhodanine as end acceptor groups were synthesized and investigated as electron donors in solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs). These molecules showed excellent thermal stability with decomposition temperatures over 360 °C, relatively low HOMO levels of -5.18 to -5.22 eV, and strong optical absorption from 350 to 670 nm with high molar extinction coefficient of 1.1 × 10(5) to 1.6 × 10(5) M(-1) cm(-1) in chloroform solution. OSCs based on blends of these molecules and PC71BM achieved average power conversion efficiencies of 2.32 to 5.09% (the best 5.32%) after thermal annealing. The effects of thiophene bridge length and end acceptor groups on absorption, energy level, charge transport, morphology, and photovoltaic properties of the molecules were investigated.