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Inner/Outer Side Chain Engineering of Non-Fullerene Acceptors for Efficient Large-Area Organic Solar Modules Based on
Sabeen Zahra1,2, Seungjin Lee1, Muhammad Jahankhan1,2
1Advanced Energy Materials Research Center, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon, 34114, Republic of Korea.
Researchers modified a key component in organic solar cells (OSCs) to enable efficient, large-area manufacturing using non-halogenated solvents. This breakthrough improves film formation and morphology, paving the way for commercialization of these solar modules.
Area of Science:
- Organic electronics
- Materials science
- Renewable energy technologies
Background:
- Commercialization of organic solar modules (OSCs) requires efficient large-area fabrication using non-halogenated solvents.
- Current non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs), like Y6, show high efficiency with toxic halogenated solvents but poor solubility in greener alternatives, leading to suboptimal morphology.
- Achieving ideal film-formation kinetics and bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) morphology remains a significant challenge for large-area OSCs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the impact of modifying the inner and outer side-chains of the Y6 non-fullerene acceptor (NFA) on organic solar cell (OSC) performance.
- To develop NFAs with improved solubility in non-halogenated solvents for better film morphology and processing.
- To assess the performance of modified NFAs in both small-area OSCs and large-area sub-modules.
Main Methods:
- Chemical modification of the Y6 NFA's side-chains to create derivatives with enhanced solubility.
- Fabrication of small-area OSCs using a blend of the polymer donor PM6 and the modified NFA (N-HD).
- Processing of large-area (55 cm²) OSC sub-modules using the N-HD NFA in o-xylene at room temperature under ambient conditions.
Main Results:
- A modified NFA, N-HD, demonstrated improved solubility in o-xylene at room temperature, facilitating favorable BHJ morphology.
- Small-area OSCs fabricated with PM6:N-HD achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 18.3%.
- A large-area (55 cm²) sub-module using N-HD processed in o-xylene achieved a PCE of 12.2% under ambient conditions.
Conclusions:
- Modification of Y6 derivatives significantly impacts structural arrangements and film processing for large-area OSC modules.
- The developed N-HD NFA enables efficient OSC fabrication using non-halogenated solvents at room temperature.
- These findings offer insights into overcoming scaling challenges in OSCs and advancing their commercial viability.
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