π-Extended Nonfullerene Acceptors for Efficient Organic Solar Cells with a High Open-Circuit Voltage of 0.94 V and a Low Energy Loss of 0.49 eV

A combination of high open-circuit voltage (V-oc) and short-circuit current density (J(sc)) typically creates effective organic solar cells (OSCs). Y5, a member of the Y-series acceptors, can achieve high V-oc of 0.94 V with PM6 but low J(sc) of 12.8 mA cm(-2). To maintain the high V-oc while increasing the J(sc) of devices, we developed a new nonfullerene acceptor, namely, BTP-C2C4-N, by extending the conjugation of a Y5 molecule with a naphthalenebased end acceptor. In comparison with Y5-based devices, PM6:BTP-C2C4-N-based devices exhibited significantly higher J(sc) of 18.2 mA cm(-2) followed by a high V-oc. To further increase the photovoltaic properties of BTP-C2C4-N analogues, BTP-C4C6-N and BTP-C6C8-N molecules with better processability and film morphology are obtained by adjusting the alkyl branched chain length. The optimized OSCs based on BTP-C4C6-N with a moderate alkyl branched chain length exhibited the best PCE of 12.4% with a high V-oc of 0.94 V and J(sc) of 20.7 mA cm(-2). Notably, the devices achieved a low energy loss of 0.49 eV (0.51 eV for Y5 system) accompanied by a small nonradiative energy loss. The results indicate that nonfullerene acceptors with extended terminal motifs and optimized branched chain lengths can effectively enhance the performance of OSCs and reduce energy loss.

Automated summary

By adjusting the molecular structure of acceptors and the length of side chains, the performance of organic solar cells can be improved with reduced energy loss.