A History and Perspective of Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells

Armin A, Li W, Sandberg OJ, Xiao Z, Ding L, Nelson J, Neher D, Vandewal K, Shoaee S, Wang T, Ade H, Heumüller T, Brabec C, Meredith P (2021)

Publication Type: Journal article, Review article

Publication year: 2021

Journal

Advanced Energy Materials Wiley

DOI: 10.1002/aenm.202003570

Abstract

Organic solar cells are composed of electron donating and accepting organic semiconductors. Whilst a significant palette of donors has been developed over three decades, until recently only a small number of acceptors have proven capable of delivering high power conversion efficiencies. In particular the fullerenes have dominated the landscape. In this perspective, the emergence of a family of materials–the non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) is described. These have delivered a discontinuous advance in cell efficiencies, with the significant milestone of 20% now in sight. Intensive international efforts in synthetic chemistry have established clear design rules for molecular engineering enabling an ever-expanding number of high efficiency candidates. However, these materials challenge the accepted wisdom of how organic solar cells work and force new thinking in areas such as morphology, charge generation and recombination. This perspective provides a historical context for the development of NFAs, and also addresses current thinking in these areas plus considers important manufacturability criteria. There is no doubt that the NFAs have propelled organic solar cell technology to the efficiencies necessary for a viable commercial technology–but how far can they be pushed, and will they also deliver on equally important metrics such as stability?.

Authors with CRIS profile

Thomas Heumüller Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET) Christoph Brabec Institute Materials for Electronics and Energy Technology (i-MEET)

Involved external institutions

Swansea University GB United Kingdom (GB) National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST) / 国家纳米科学中心 CN China (CN) Imperial College London / The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine GB United Kingdom (GB) Universität Potsdam DE Germany (DE) Hasselt University / Universiteit Hasselt BE Belgium (BE) Wuhan University of Technology CN China (CN) North Carolina State University US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Armin, A., Li, W., Sandberg, O.J., Xiao, Z., Ding, L., Nelson, J.,... Meredith, P. (2021). A History and Perspective of Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells. Advanced Energy Materials. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aenm.202003570

MLA:

Armin, Ardalan, et al. "A History and Perspective of Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells." Advanced Energy Materials (2021).

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