Dissecting the structure-stability relationship of Y-series electron acceptors for real-world solar cell applications
Journal article, 2023
Despite striking progress toward improving the photovoltaic (PV) performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) with recent Y-series non-fullerene acceptors (Y-NFAs), knowledge about their outdoor performance under real-world conditions and photodegradation mechanisms remains elusive, which is urgently needed to close the lab-to-fab gap of OSCs. Herein, for the first time, we study the structure-outdoor-stability relationship of Y-NFAs. We show that Y-NFAs with long internal side-chains exhibit high energy barriers for photoisomerization, and fluorinated end-groups can enhance the structural confinement to inhibit the photodegradation pathway and thereby improve device stability. Furthermore, the performance loss of Y-NFA-based OSCs under illumination is mainly driven by increased trap-assisted recombination over time. The structure-stability correlation and demonstration of outdoor performance of these state-of-the-art Y-NFA cells provided in this study highlight molecular engineering of device stability control to minimize power output losses in real-world climates.
Y6
organic solar cells
non-fullerene acceptors
photostability
outdoor stability
Author
Han Xu
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Jianhua Han
University of Würzburg
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Si Chen
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Ye Liu
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Luis Huerta Hernandez
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Jules Bertrandie
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Maxime Babics
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Shahidul Alam
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Diego Rosas Villalva
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Sri Harish Kumar Paleti
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Chalmers, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Applied Chemistry
Julien Gorenflot
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Christoph Herok
University of Würzburg
Nicolas Ramos
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Joel Troughton
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
A. Sharma
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Todd B. Marder
University of Würzburg
Bernd Engels
University of Würzburg
Jaime Martín
Basque Foundation for Science (Ikerbasque)
University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU)
Stefaan De Wolf
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Frédéric Laquai
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Derya Baran
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST)
Joule
25424351 (eISSN)
Vol. 7 9 2135-2151Subject Categories
Materials Chemistry
Other Chemistry Topics
DOI
10.1016/j.joule.2023.07.003