Correlating crystallinity and performance in single-component organic solar cells based on double-cable conjugated polymers
Zhou Zhang,
Qiaomei Chen,
Jing Wang,
Chengyi Xiao,
Zheng Tang,
Christopher R. McNeill,
Weiwei Li
Affiliations
Zhou Zhang
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China
Qiaomei Chen
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China; Corresponding authors.
Jing Wang
Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China
Chengyi Xiao
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China
Zheng Tang
Center for Advanced Low-dimension Materials, College of Materials Science and Engineering Donghua University, Shanghai 201620, PR China
Christopher R. McNeill
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Wellington Road, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia
Weiwei Li
Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering & State Key Laboratory of Organic-Inorganic Composites, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing 100029, PR China; Corresponding authors.
The thin film morphology of double-cable conjugated polymers is critical to the performance of single-component organic solar cells (SCOSCs). Here, we explore the effect of thin film crystallinity on device performance by varying the thermal annealing temperature used during device fabrication. Our investigations reveal that a moderate annealing temperature of 150 °C optimizes the power conversion efficiency in SCOSCs. Although higher annealing temperatures leads to increased crystalline order, a decrease in device performance is observed, attributed to imbalanced carrier transport and increased charge recombination. Additionally, the progressive decrease in the open-circuit voltage of these cells with increasing annealing temperature is linked to augmented non-radiative voltage losses, stemming from the increase in film crystallinity. This study underscores the critical necessity of achieving a delicate optimization of film microstructure in order to maximize the efficiency of SCOSCs, while also delineating prospective avenues for refining the molecular design and processing of double-cable polymers to bolster solar cell performance.
