15.3% Efficiency All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Achieved by a Locally Asymmetric F, Cl Disubstitution Strategy

Single junction binary all-small-molecule (ASM) organic solar cells (OSCs) with power conversion efficiency (PCE) beyond 14% are achieved by using non-fullerene acceptor Y6 as the electron acceptor, but still lag behind that of polymer OSCs. Herein, an asymmetric Y6-like acceptor, BTP-FCl-FCl, is designed and synthesized to match the recently reported high performance small molecule donor BTR-Cl, and a record efficiency of 15.3% for single-junction binary ASM OSCs is achieved. BTP-FCl-FCl features a F,Cl disubstitution on the same end group affording locally asymmetric structures, and so has a lower total dipole moment, larger average electronic static potential, and lower distribution disorder than those of the globally asymmetric isomer BTP-2F-2Cl, resulting in improved charge generation and extraction. In addition, BTP-FCl-FCl based active layer presents more favorable domain size and finer phase separation contributing to the faster charge extraction, longer charge carrier lifetime, and much lower recombination rate. Therefore, compared with BTP-2F-2Cl, BTP-FCl-FCl based devices provide better performance with FF enhanced from 71.41% to 75.36% and J(sc) increased from 22.35 to 24.58 mA cm(-2), leading to a higher PCE of 15.3%. The locally asymmetric F, Cl disubstitution on the same end group is a new strategy to achieve high performance ASM OSCs.

Automated summary

A new asymmetric acceptor, BTP-FCl-FCl, was designed and synthesized to achieve a record efficiency of 15.3% for single-junction binary ASM organic solar cells by matching with a high-performance small molecule donor. The locally asymmetric structure of BTP-FCl-FCl resulted in improved charge generation and extraction, contributing to the enhanced performance of the devices.