Efficient Medium Bandgap Electron Acceptor Based on Diketopyrrolopyrrole and Furan for Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells

We report the design of novel medium bandgap nonfullerene small molecule acceptor NFSMA SPS-TDPP-2CNRh with A(2)-pi-A(1)-pi-A(2) architecture, with the molecular engineering of this material comprising a strong electron-accepting backbone unit DPP (A(1)) as the acceptor, which is attached to the dicyanomethylene-3hexylrhodanine (A(2)) acceptor via a furan (pi-spacer) linker. We systematically studied its structural and optoelectronic properties. The incorporation of dicyanomethylene-3hexylrhodanine and furan enhance the light absorption and electrochemical properties by extending pi-conjugation and is anticipated to improve VOC by decreasing the LUMO level. The long alkyl chain units were responsible for the better solubility and aggregation of the resultant molecule. Binary BHJ-OSCs constructed with polymer P as the donor and SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as the acceptor resulted in a PCE of 11.49% with improved V-OC = 0.98 V, J(SC) = 18.32 mA/cm(2), and FF = 0.64 for P:SPS-TDPP-2CNRh organic solar cells. A ternary solar cell device was also made using Y18-DMO and SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as acceptors having complementary absorption profiles and polymer P as the donor, resulting in a PCE of 15.50% with improved J(SC) = 23.08 mA/cm(2), FF = 0.73, and V-OC = 0.92 V for the P:SPS-TDPP-2CNRh:Y18-DMO solar cell. The ternary OSCs with SPS-TDPP-2CNRh as the host acceptor in the P:Y18-DMO binary film were shown to have improved PCE values, which is mainly attributed to the effective photoinduced charge transfer through multiple networks and the use of excitons from SPS-TDPP-2CNRh and Y18-DMO. Moreover, in the ternary BHJ active layers, the superior stable charge transport that was observed compared to the binary counterparts may also lead to an increase in the fill factor. These results demonstrate that combining medium bandgap and narrow bandgap NFSMAs with a wide bandgap polymer donor is a successful route to increasing the overall PCE of the OSCs via the ternary BHJ concept.

Automated summary

We report the design and study of a novel medium bandgap nonfullerene small molecule acceptor NFSMA SPS-TDPP-2CNRh. The incorporation of dicyanomethylene-3hexylrhodanine and furan improves light absorption and electrochemical properties, which is expected to enhance the efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs).