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Updated: Jan 25, 2026
Concurrent Quantitative Conductivity and Mechanical Properties Measurements of Organic Photovoltaic Materials using AFM
Published on: January 23, 2013
14.7% Efficiency Organic Photovoltaic Cells Enabled by Active Materials with a Large Electrostatic Potential
Huifeng Yao1, Yong Cui1,2, Deping Qian3
1Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, CAS Research/Education Center for Excellence in Molecular Sciences , Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190 , P. R. China.
Abstract:
Although significant improvements have been achieved for organic photovoltaic cells (OPVs), the top-performing devices still show power conversion efficiencies far behind those of commercialized solar cells. One of the main reasons is the large driving force required for separating electron-hole pairs. Here, we demonstrate an efficiency of 14.7% in the single-junction OPV by using a new polymer donor PTO2 and a nonfullerene acceptor IT-4F. The device possesses an efficient charge generation at a low driving force. Ultrafast transient absorption measurements probe the formation of loosely bound charge pairs with extended lifetime that impedes the recombination of charge carriers in the blend. The theoretical studies reveal that the molecular electrostatic potential (ESP) between PTO2 and IT-4F is large, and the induced intermolecular electric field may assist the charge generation. The results suggest OPVs have the potential for further improvement by judicious modulation of ESP.
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