Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells

Deping Qian; Zilong Zheng; Huifeng Yao; Wolfgang Tress; Thomas R. Hopper; Shula Chen; Sunsun Li; Jing Liu; Shangshang Chen; Jiangbin Zhang; Xiao Ke Liu; Bowei Gao; Liangqi Ouyang; Yingzhi Jin; Galia Pozina; Irina A. Buyanova; Weimin M. Chen; Olle Inganäs; Veaceslav Coropceanu; Jean Luc Bredas; He Yan; Jianhui Hou; Fengling Zhang; Artem A. Bakulin; Feng Gao

doi:10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z

Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells

Deping Qian, Zilong Zheng, Huifeng Yao, Wolfgang Tress, Thomas R. Hopper, Shula Chen, Sunsun Li, Jing Liu, Shangshang Chen, Jiangbin Zhang, Xiao Ke Liu, Bowei Gao, Liangqi Ouyang, Yingzhi Jin, Galia Pozina, Irina A. Buyanova, Weimin M. Chen, Olle Inganäs, Veaceslav Coropceanu, Jean Luc BredasHe Yan, Jianhui Hou, Fengling Zhang, Artem A. Bakulin, Feng Gao

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

754 Scopus citations

Abstract

The open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells is usually lower than the values achieved in inorganic or perovskite photovoltaic devices with comparable bandgaps. Energy losses during charge separation at the donor–acceptor interface and non-radiative recombination are among the main causes of such voltage losses. Here we combine spectroscopic and quantum-chemistry approaches to identify key rules for minimizing voltage losses: (1) a low energy offset between donor and acceptor molecular states and (2) high photoluminescence yield of the low-gap material in the blend. Following these rules, we present a range of existing and new donor–acceptor systems that combine efficient photocurrent generation with electroluminescence yield up to 0.03%, leading to non-radiative voltage losses as small as 0.21 V. This study provides a rationale to explain and further improve the performance of recently demonstrated high-open-circuit-voltage organic solar cells.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	703-709
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nature materials
Volume	17
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z
State	Published - Aug 1 2018
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemistry
General Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanics of Materials
Mechanical Engineering

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Qian, D., Zheng, Z., Yao, H., Tress, W., Hopper, T. R., Chen, S., Li, S., Liu, J., Chen, S., Zhang, J., Liu, X. K., Gao, B., Ouyang, L., Jin, Y., Pozina, G., Buyanova, I. A., Chen, W. M., Inganäs, O., Coropceanu, V., ... Gao, F. (2018). Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells. Nature materials, 17(8), 703-709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z

Qian, D, Zheng, Z, Yao, H, Tress, W, Hopper, TR, Chen, S, Li, S, Liu, J, Chen, S, Zhang, J, Liu, XK, Gao, B, Ouyang, L, Jin, Y, Pozina, G, Buyanova, IA, Chen, WM, Inganäs, O, Coropceanu, V , Bredas, JL, Yan, H, Hou, J, Zhang, F, Bakulin, AA & Gao, F 2018, 'Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells', Nature materials, vol. 17, no. 8, pp. 703-709. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z

@article{4597d1b1f34e422a83584564c6315f2d,

title = "Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells",

abstract = "The open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells is usually lower than the values achieved in inorganic or perovskite photovoltaic devices with comparable bandgaps. Energy losses during charge separation at the donor–acceptor interface and non-radiative recombination are among the main causes of such voltage losses. Here we combine spectroscopic and quantum-chemistry approaches to identify key rules for minimizing voltage losses: (1) a low energy offset between donor and acceptor molecular states and (2) high photoluminescence yield of the low-gap material in the blend. Following these rules, we present a range of existing and new donor–acceptor systems that combine efficient photocurrent generation with electroluminescence yield up to 0.03%, leading to non-radiative voltage losses as small as 0.21 V. This study provides a rationale to explain and further improve the performance of recently demonstrated high-open-circuit-voltage organic solar cells.",

author = "Deping Qian and Zilong Zheng and Huifeng Yao and Wolfgang Tress and Hopper, {Thomas R.} and Shula Chen and Sunsun Li and Jing Liu and Shangshang Chen and Jiangbin Zhang and Liu, {Xiao Ke} and Bowei Gao and Liangqi Ouyang and Yingzhi Jin and Galia Pozina and Buyanova, {Irina A.} and Chen, {Weimin M.} and Olle Ingan{\"a}s and Veaceslav Coropceanu and Bredas, {Jean Luc} and He Yan and Jianhui Hou and Fengling Zhang and Bakulin, {Artem A.} and Feng Gao",

note = "Funding Information: The authors thank J. Durrant, J.-S. Kim, M. Pshenichnikov and D. Paraschuk for useful discussions. The research was supported by the Swedish Energy Agency Energimyndigheten (grant no. 2016-010174), the Swedish Research Council VR (grant nos 621-2013-5561, 2016-06146, and 2017-00744), the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Link{\"o}ping University (faculty grant no. SFO-Mat-LiU #2009-00971), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos 91633301, 51673201 and 21325419), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB12030200), the China Scholarship Council (CSC) (no. 201306730002) and the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research, under the MURI {\textquoteleft}Center for Advanced Organic Photovoltaics{\textquoteright} (awards nos N00014-14-1-0580 and N00014-16-1-2520). F.G. is a Wallenberg Academy Fellow and O.I. is a Wallenberg Scholar. A.A.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nos 639750 and 717026). W.T. acknowledges an Ambizione fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2018, The Author(s).",

year = "2018",

month = aug,

day = "1",

doi = "10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z",

language = "English (US)",

volume = "17",

pages = "703--709",

journal = "Nature materials",

issn = "1476-1122",

publisher = "Nature Publishing Group",

number = "8",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells

AU - Qian, Deping

AU - Zheng, Zilong

AU - Yao, Huifeng

AU - Tress, Wolfgang

AU - Hopper, Thomas R.

AU - Chen, Shula

AU - Li, Sunsun

AU - Liu, Jing

AU - Chen, Shangshang

AU - Zhang, Jiangbin

AU - Liu, Xiao Ke

AU - Gao, Bowei

AU - Ouyang, Liangqi

AU - Jin, Yingzhi

AU - Pozina, Galia

AU - Buyanova, Irina A.

AU - Chen, Weimin M.

AU - Inganäs, Olle

AU - Coropceanu, Veaceslav

AU - Bredas, Jean Luc

AU - Yan, He

AU - Hou, Jianhui

AU - Zhang, Fengling

AU - Bakulin, Artem A.

AU - Gao, Feng

N1 - Funding Information: The authors thank J. Durrant, J.-S. Kim, M. Pshenichnikov and D. Paraschuk for useful discussions. The research was supported by the Swedish Energy Agency Energimyndigheten (grant no. 2016-010174), the Swedish Research Council VR (grant nos 621-2013-5561, 2016-06146, and 2017-00744), the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Linköping University (faculty grant no. SFO-Mat-LiU #2009-00971), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grants nos 91633301, 51673201 and 21325419), the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. XDB12030200), the China Scholarship Council (CSC) (no. 201306730002) and the Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research, under the MURI ‘Center for Advanced Organic Photovoltaics’ (awards nos N00014-14-1-0580 and N00014-16-1-2520). F.G. is a Wallenberg Academy Fellow and O.I. is a Wallenberg Scholar. A.A.B. is a Royal Society University Research Fellow. This project has also received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement nos 639750 and 717026). W.T. acknowledges an Ambizione fellowship from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Publisher Copyright: © 2018, The Author(s).

PY - 2018/8/1

Y1 - 2018/8/1

N2 - The open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells is usually lower than the values achieved in inorganic or perovskite photovoltaic devices with comparable bandgaps. Energy losses during charge separation at the donor–acceptor interface and non-radiative recombination are among the main causes of such voltage losses. Here we combine spectroscopic and quantum-chemistry approaches to identify key rules for minimizing voltage losses: (1) a low energy offset between donor and acceptor molecular states and (2) high photoluminescence yield of the low-gap material in the blend. Following these rules, we present a range of existing and new donor–acceptor systems that combine efficient photocurrent generation with electroluminescence yield up to 0.03%, leading to non-radiative voltage losses as small as 0.21 V. This study provides a rationale to explain and further improve the performance of recently demonstrated high-open-circuit-voltage organic solar cells.

AB - The open-circuit voltage of organic solar cells is usually lower than the values achieved in inorganic or perovskite photovoltaic devices with comparable bandgaps. Energy losses during charge separation at the donor–acceptor interface and non-radiative recombination are among the main causes of such voltage losses. Here we combine spectroscopic and quantum-chemistry approaches to identify key rules for minimizing voltage losses: (1) a low energy offset between donor and acceptor molecular states and (2) high photoluminescence yield of the low-gap material in the blend. Following these rules, we present a range of existing and new donor–acceptor systems that combine efficient photocurrent generation with electroluminescence yield up to 0.03%, leading to non-radiative voltage losses as small as 0.21 V. This study provides a rationale to explain and further improve the performance of recently demonstrated high-open-circuit-voltage organic solar cells.

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U2 - 10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z

DO - 10.1038/s41563-018-0128-z

M3 - Article

C2 - 30013057

SN - 1476-1122

VL - 17

SP - 703

EP - 709

JO - Nature materials

JF - Nature materials

IS - 8

ER -

Design rules for minimizing voltage losses in high-efficiency organic solar cells

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