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Colorful Squaraines Dyes for Efficient Solution-Processed All Small-Molecule Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells
Daobin Yang1, Takeshi Sano1, Hisahiro Sasabe1
1Research Center for Organic Electronics (ROEL), Frontier Center for Organic Materials (FROM), Department of Organic Materials Science , Yamagata University , Yonezawa 992-8510 , Japan.
ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces
|July 25, 2018
Summary
New squaraine dyes enable semitransparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) with tunable colors and high efficiency. These small-molecule ST-OSCs achieve up to 4.9% power conversion efficiency with excellent transparency and color rendering.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Organic Electronics
- Photovoltaics
Background:
- Semitransparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) are crucial for integrated photovoltaics and power-generating windows.
- Development of all small-molecule ST-OSCs lags behind opaque counterparts.
- Need for efficient and color-tunable materials for ST-OSCs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop novel small-molecule donors for ST-OSCs.
- To investigate the performance and optical properties of ST-OSCs based on new squaraine dyes.
- To achieve high power conversion efficiency (PCE) and good transparency in ST-OSCs.
Main Methods:
- Synthesis of four unique squaraine dyes (IDPSQ, SQ-BP, D-BDT-SQ, AzUSQ) as donor materials.
- Fabrication of ST-OSCs using these dyes with PC71BM as acceptor and ultrathin Ag as a transparent electrode.
- Characterization of PCE, average visible transmittance (AVT), CIE color coordinates, and color rendering index (CRI).
Main Results:
- ST-OSCs fabricated with IDPSQ, SQ-BP, D-BDT-SQ, and AzUSQ achieved PCEs of 2.96%, 4.36%, 4.91%, and 1.71%, respectively.
- The PCEs of ST-OSCs showed minimal reduction compared to their opaque versions (10-25% loss).
- Achieved good AVT (25-30%), favorable CIE coordinates, and high CRI (71-97%).
- Optimized D-BDT-SQ:PC71BM ST-OSCs reached 4.9% PCE with 25% AVT and 97% CRI, the highest for small-molecule ST-OSCs.
Conclusions:
- The developed squaraine dyes are effective donor materials for high-performance ST-OSCs.
- These ST-OSCs offer a promising balance between power generation and optical properties for window applications.
- The D-BDT-SQ:PC71BM based ST-OSC represents a significant advancement in small-molecule ST-OSC technology.
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