High Open-Circuit Voltage Organic Solar Cells with 19.2% Efficiency Enabled by Synergistic Side-Chain Engineering

Restricted by the energy-gap law, state-of-the-art organic solar cells (OSCs) exhibit relatively low open-circuit voltage (V_OC) because of large nonradiative energy losses (ΔE_nonrad). Moreover, the trade-off between V_OC and external quantum efficiency (EQE) of OSCs is more distinctive; the power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of OSCs are still <15% with V_OCs of >1.0 V. Herein, the electronic properties and aggregation behaviors of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) are carefully considered and then a new NFA (Z19) is delicately designed by simultaneously introducing alkoxy and phenyl-substituted alkyl chains to the conjugated backbone. Z19 exhibits a hypochromatic-shifted absorption spectrum, high-lying lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy level and ordered 2D packing mode. The D18:Z19-based blend film exhibits favorable phase separation with face-on dominated molecular orientation, facilitating charge transport properties. Consequently, D18:Z19 binary devices afford an exciting PCE of 19.2% with a high V_OC of 1.002 V, surpassing Y6-2O-based devices. The former is the highest PCE reported to date for OSCs with V_OCs of >1.0 V. Moreover, the ΔE_nonrad of Z19- (0.200 eV) and Y6-2O-based (0.155 eV) devices are lower than that of Y6-based (0.239 eV) devices. Indications are that the design of such NFA, considering the energy-gap law, could promote a new breakthrough in OSCs.