Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics

Zhang G, Lin FR, Qi F, Heumüller T, Distler A, Egelhaaf HJ, Li N, Chow PCY, Brabec C, Jen AKY, Yip HL (2022)


Publication Type: Journal article, Review article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00955

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have progressed steadily through three stages of photoactive materials development: (i) use of poly(3-hexylthiophene) and fullerene-based acceptors (FAs) for optimizing bulk heterojunctions; (ii) development of new donors to better match with FAs; (iii) development of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). The development and application of NFAs with an A-D-A configuration (where A = acceptor and D = donor) has enabled devices to have efficient charge generation and small energy losses (Eloss < 0.6 eV), resulting in substantially higher power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) than FA-based devices. The discovery of Y6-type acceptors (Y6 = 2,2'-((2Z,2'Z)-((12,13-bis (2-ethylhexyl)-3,9-diundecyl-12,13-dihydro-[1,2,5]-thiadiazolo [3,4-e]-thieno- [2 ",3 ":4',5']thieno-[2',3':4,5]pyrrolo-[3,2-g]thieno-[2',3':4,5]thieno-[3,2-b]indole-2,10- diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis(5,6-difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene))-dimalononitrile) with an A-DA' D-A configuration has further propelled the PCEs to go beyond 15% due to smaller Eloss values (& SIM;0.5 eV) and higher external quantum efficiencies. Subsequently, the PCEs of Y6-series single-junction devices have increased to > 19% and may soon approach 20%. This review provides an update of recent progress of OPV in the following aspects: developments of novel NFAs and donors, understanding of the structure-property relationships and underlying mechanisms of state-of-the-art OPVs, and tasks underpinning the commercialization of OPVs, such as device stability, module development, potential applications, and high-throughput manufacturing. Finally, an outlook and prospects section summarizes the remaining challenges for the further development of OPV technology.

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How to cite

APA:

Zhang, G., Lin, F.R., Qi, F., Heumüller, T., Distler, A., Egelhaaf, H.-J.,... Yip, H.-L. (2022). Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics. Chemical Reviews. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.1c00955

MLA:

Zhang, Guichuan, et al. "Renewed Prospects for Organic Photovoltaics." Chemical Reviews (2022).

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