A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells

Xiyue Yuan; Yunli Zhao; Tao Zhan; Jiyeon Oh; Jiadong Zhou; Junyu Li; Xiaojing Wang; Zhiqiang Wang; Shuting Pang; Ping Cai; Changduk Yang; Zhicai He; Zengqi Xie; Chunhui Duan; Fei Huang; Yong Cao

doi:10.1039/d1ee01957k

A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells

Xiyue Yuan
, Yunli Zhao
, Tao Zhan
, Jiyeon Oh
, Jiadong Zhou
, Junyu Li
, Xiaojing Wang
, Zhiqiang Wang
, Shuting Pang
, Ping Cai
, Changduk Yang
, Zhicai He
, Zengqi Xie
, Chunhui Duan
, Fei Huang
, Yong Cao

Materials to Optoelectronic Devices

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

104 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The realization of high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs) relies largely on donor polymers. However, high-performance donor polymers are limited to a handful of building blocks, which usually suffer from lengthy synthesis and high production cost. Moreover, most donor polymers exhibited strong batch-to-batch variation. Herein, we report a new building block, 3-cyanothiophene (CT), which features a very simple asymmetric structure and facile synthesis. The donor polymer (PBCT-2F) based on the CT unit realized a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1%. More importantly, PBCT-2F exhibited excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. The six polymer batches with molecular weights ranging from 18 to 74 kDa produced very similar PCEs: 15.9-17.1% and 12.7-13.2% when the polymer was blended with Y6 and IT-4F, respectively. These results suggest the great potential of PBCT-2F for industrial synthesis and large-scale manufacturing of OSC modules. This work also demonstrates the bright future of CT units for constructing high-performance donor polymers.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	5530-5540
Number of pages	11
Journal	Energy & Environmental Science
Volume	14
Issue number	10
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ee01957k
Publication status	Published - Oct 2021

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
X. Y., Y. Z., and T. Z. contributed equally to this work. The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019YFA0705900 and 2017YFA0206600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875072 and U20A6002), Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (2019ZT08L075), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS201901), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (South China University of Technology, No. D2190310).

Funding

X. Y., Y. Z., and T. Z. contributed equally to this work. The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019YFA0705900 and 2017YFA0206600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875072 and U20A6002), Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (2019ZT08L075), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS201901), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (South China University of Technology, No. D2190310).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 7 Affordable and Clean Energy

Access to Document

10.1039/d1ee01957k

Cite this

Yuan, X., Zhao, Y., Zhan, T., Oh, J., Zhou, J., Li, J., Wang, X., Wang, Z., Pang, S., Cai, P., Yang, C., He, Z., Xie, Z., Duan, C., Huang, F., & Cao, Y. (2021). A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells. Energy & Environmental Science, 14(10), 5530-5540. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ee01957k

@article{109f7a9373bf48c5b1c28889c6983217,

title = "A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells",

abstract = "The realization of high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs) relies largely on donor polymers. However, high-performance donor polymers are limited to a handful of building blocks, which usually suffer from lengthy synthesis and high production cost. Moreover, most donor polymers exhibited strong batch-to-batch variation. Herein, we report a new building block, 3-cyanothiophene (CT), which features a very simple asymmetric structure and facile synthesis. The donor polymer (PBCT-2F) based on the CT unit realized a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1\%. More importantly, PBCT-2F exhibited excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. The six polymer batches with molecular weights ranging from 18 to 74 kDa produced very similar PCEs: 15.9-17.1\% and 12.7-13.2\% when the polymer was blended with Y6 and IT-4F, respectively. These results suggest the great potential of PBCT-2F for industrial synthesis and large-scale manufacturing of OSC modules. This work also demonstrates the bright future of CT units for constructing high-performance donor polymers. ",

author = "Xiyue Yuan and Yunli Zhao and Tao Zhan and Jiyeon Oh and Jiadong Zhou and Junyu Li and Xiaojing Wang and Zhiqiang Wang and Shuting Pang and Ping Cai and Changduk Yang and Zhicai He and Zengqi Xie and Chunhui Duan and Fei Huang and Yong Cao",

note = "Funding Information: X. Y., Y. Z., and T. Z. contributed equally to this work. The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019YFA0705900 and 2017YFA0206600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875072 and U20A6002), Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (2019ZT08L075), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS201901), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (South China University of Technology, No. D2190310). ",

year = "2021",

month = oct,

doi = "10.1039/d1ee01957k",

language = "English",

volume = "14",

pages = "5530--5540",

journal = "Energy \& Environmental Science",

issn = "1754-5692",

publisher = "Royal Society of Chemistry",

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Yuan, X, Zhao, Y, Zhan, T, Oh, J, Zhou, J, Li, J, Wang, X, Wang, Z, Pang, S, Cai, P, Yang, C, He, Z, Xie, Z, Duan, C, Huang, F & Cao, Y 2021, 'A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells', Energy & Environmental Science, vol. 14, no. 10, pp. 5530-5540. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ee01957k

TY - JOUR

T1 - A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells

AU - Yuan, Xiyue

AU - Zhao, Yunli

AU - Zhan, Tao

AU - Oh, Jiyeon

AU - Zhou, Jiadong

AU - Li, Junyu

AU - Wang, Xiaojing

AU - Wang, Zhiqiang

AU - Pang, Shuting

AU - Cai, Ping

AU - Yang, Changduk

AU - He, Zhicai

AU - Xie, Zengqi

AU - Duan, Chunhui

AU - Huang, Fei

AU - Cao, Yong

N1 - Funding Information: X. Y., Y. Z., and T. Z. contributed equally to this work. The research was financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2019YFA0705900 and 2017YFA0206600), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21875072 and U20A6002), Guangdong Innovative and Entrepreneurial Research Team Program (2019ZT08L075), Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS201901), and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (South China University of Technology, No. D2190310).

PY - 2021/10

Y1 - 2021/10

N2 - The realization of high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs) relies largely on donor polymers. However, high-performance donor polymers are limited to a handful of building blocks, which usually suffer from lengthy synthesis and high production cost. Moreover, most donor polymers exhibited strong batch-to-batch variation. Herein, we report a new building block, 3-cyanothiophene (CT), which features a very simple asymmetric structure and facile synthesis. The donor polymer (PBCT-2F) based on the CT unit realized a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1%. More importantly, PBCT-2F exhibited excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. The six polymer batches with molecular weights ranging from 18 to 74 kDa produced very similar PCEs: 15.9-17.1% and 12.7-13.2% when the polymer was blended with Y6 and IT-4F, respectively. These results suggest the great potential of PBCT-2F for industrial synthesis and large-scale manufacturing of OSC modules. This work also demonstrates the bright future of CT units for constructing high-performance donor polymers.

AB - The realization of high-efficiency organic solar cells (OSCs) relies largely on donor polymers. However, high-performance donor polymers are limited to a handful of building blocks, which usually suffer from lengthy synthesis and high production cost. Moreover, most donor polymers exhibited strong batch-to-batch variation. Herein, we report a new building block, 3-cyanothiophene (CT), which features a very simple asymmetric structure and facile synthesis. The donor polymer (PBCT-2F) based on the CT unit realized a remarkable power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 17.1%. More importantly, PBCT-2F exhibited excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility. The six polymer batches with molecular weights ranging from 18 to 74 kDa produced very similar PCEs: 15.9-17.1% and 12.7-13.2% when the polymer was blended with Y6 and IT-4F, respectively. These results suggest the great potential of PBCT-2F for industrial synthesis and large-scale manufacturing of OSC modules. This work also demonstrates the bright future of CT units for constructing high-performance donor polymers.

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85117611284

U2 - 10.1039/d1ee01957k

DO - 10.1039/d1ee01957k

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85117611284

SN - 1754-5692

VL - 14

SP - 5530

EP - 5540

JO - Energy & Environmental Science

JF - Energy & Environmental Science

IS - 10

ER -

A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

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Other files and links

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CCDC 2092056: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Cite this

A donor polymer based on 3-cyanothiophene with superior batch-to-batch reproducibility for high-efficiency organic solar cells

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

UN SDGs

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Datasets

CCDC 2092056: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Cite this