Advanced Functional Materials and Devices (AFMD) Group

Research group

Research theme

Sub department

About

Roadmap on Photovoltaic Absorber Materials for Sustainable Energy Conversion

(2023)

Authors:

James C Blakesley, Ruy S Bonilla, Marina Freitag, Alex M Ganose, Nicola Gasparini, Pascal Kaienburg, George Koutsourakis, Jonathan D Major, Jenny Nelson, Nakita K Noel, Bart Roose, Jae Sung Yun, Simon Aliwell, Pietro P Altermatt, Tayebeh Ameri, Virgil Andrei, Ardalan Armin, Diego Bagnis, Jenny Baker, Hamish Beath, Mathieu Bellanger, Philippe Berrouard, Jochen Blumberger, Stuart A Boden, Hugo Bronstein, Matthew J Carnie, Chris Case, Fernando A Castro, Yi-Ming Chang, Elmer Chao, Tracey M Clarke, Graeme Cooke, Pablo Docampo, Ken Durose, James R Durrant, Marina R Filip, Richard H Friend, Jarvist M Frost, Elizabeth A Gibson, Alexander J Gillett, Pooja Goddard, Severin N Habisreutinger, Martin Heeney, Arthur D Hendsbee, Louise C Hirst, M Saiful Islam, KDG Imalka Jayawardena, Michael B Johnston, Matthias Kauer, Jeff Kettle, Ji-Seon Kim, Dan Lamb, David Lidzey, Jihoo Lim, Roderick MacKenzie, Nigel Mason, Iain McCulloch, Keith P McKenna, Sebastian B Meier, Paul Meredith, Graham Morse, John D Murphy, Chris Nicklin, Paloma Ortega-Arriaga, Thomas Osterberg, Jay B Patel, Anthony Peaker, Moritz Riede, Martyn Rush, James W Ryan, David O Scanlon, Peter J Skabara, Franky So, Henry J Snaith, Ludmilla Steier, Jarla Thiesbrummel, Alessandro Troisi, Craig Underwood, Karsten Walzer, Trystan Watson, J Michael Walls, Aron Walsh, Lucy D Whalley, Benedict Winchester, Samuel D Stranks, Robert LZ Hoye

Architecture Optimization Dramatically Improves Reverse Bias Stability in Perovskite Solar Cells: A Role of Polymer Hole Transport Layers

(2023)

Authors:

Fangyuan Jiang, Yangwei Shi, Tanka R Rana, Daniel Morales, Isaac Gould, Declan P McCarthy, Joel Smith, Grey Christoforo, Hannah Contreras, Stephen Barlow, Aditya D Mohite, Henry Snaith, Seth R Marder, J Devin MacKenzie, Michael D McGehee, David S Ginger

Understanding the Role of Non-Fullerene Acceptor Crystallinity on the Charge Transport Properties and Performance of Organic Solar Cells

Journal of Materials Chemistry A Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) (2023)

Authors:

Pierluigi Mondelli, Pascal Kaienburg, Francesco Silvestri, Rebecca Scatena, Claire Welton, Martine Grandjean, Vincent Lemaur, Eduardo Solano, Mathias Nyman, Peter Horton, Simon Coles, Esther Barrena, Moritz Riede, Paolo Radelli, David Beljonne, Gn Manjunatha Reddy, Graham Edward Morse

Abstract:

<jats:p>The acceptor crystallinity has long been associated with favourable organic solar cells (OSCs) properties such as high mobility and Fill Factor. In particular, this applies to acceptor materials such as...</jats:p>

Vacuum deposited organic solar cells with BTIC-H as A–D–A non-fullerene acceptor

APL Materials AIP Publishing 11:6 (2023)

Authors:

Irfan Habib, Pascal Kaienburg, Dondong Xia, Olivia Gough, Ming Zhu, Joseph Spruce, Weiwei Li, Moritz Riede

Abstract:

<jats:p>The record power conversion efficiency of solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) has almost doubled since non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) replaced fullerene derivatives as the best-performing acceptor molecules. The successful transition from C60 to NFAs is still pending for vacuum-thermal evaporated (VTE) OSCs, not least because most NFAs are too large to be evaporated without breaking. Due to VTE’s relevance in terms of industrial manufacturing, discovering high-performing VTE NFAs is a major opportunity for OSCs. Here, we fabricate evaporated OSCs based on the NFA BTIC-H known from solution processing. This A–D–A molecule has an unfused bithiophene core, 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone end groups, and hexyl side chains, making it small enough to be evaporated well. We pair BTIC-H with four commonly used evaporated donors—DCV5T-Me(3,3), DTDCPB, HB194, and SubNc—in planar heterojunctions. We observe appreciable photocurrents and a voltage loss of ∼0.8 V, matching that of corresponding C60 devices. Donor:BTIC-H bulk heterojunctions likely face charge collection issues due to unfavorable microstructure. Our work demonstrates one of few NFA based evaporated OSCs with encouraging performance results and gives one potential starting point for molecule design of further NFAs suitable for VTE.</jats:p>

Vacuum deposited organic solar cells with BTIC-H as A–D–A non-fullerene acceptor

APL Mater. 11, 061128 (2023)

Authors:

Irfan Habib, Pascal Kaienburg, Dondong Xia, Olivia Gough, Ming Zhu, Joseph Spruce, Weiwei Li, Moritz Riede

Abstract:

The record power conversion efficiency of solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) has almost doubled since non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) replaced fullerene derivatives as the best-performing acceptor molecules. The successful transition from C60 to NFAs is still pending for vacuum-thermal evaporated (VTE) OSCs, not least because most NFAs are too large to be evaporated without breaking. Due to VTE’s relevance in terms of industrial manufacturing, discovering high-performing VTE NFAs is a major opportunity for OSCs. Here, we fabricate evaporated OSCs based on the NFA BTIC-H known from solution processing. This A–D–A molecule has an unfused bithiophene core, 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone end groups, and hexyl side chains, making it small enough to be evaporated well. We pair BTIC-H with four commonly used evaporated donors—DCV5T-Me(3,3), DTDCPB, HB194, and SubNc—in planar heterojunctions. We observe appreciable photocurrents and a voltage loss of ∼0.8 V, matching that of corresponding C60 devices. Donor:BTIC-H bulk heterojunctions likely face charge collection issues due to unfavorable microstructure. Our work demonstrates one of few NFA based evaporated OSCs with encouraging performance results and gives one potential starting point for molecule design of further NFAs suitable for VTE.