Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control

Rui Zhang; Haiyang Chen; Tonghui Wang; Libor Kobera; Lilin He; Yuting Huang; Junyuan Ding; Ben Zhang; Azzaya Khasbaatar; Sadisha Nanayakkara; Jialei Zheng; Weijie Chen; Ying Diao; Sabina Abbrent; Jiri Brus; Aidan H. Coffey; Chenhui Zhu; Heng Liu; Xinhui Lu; Qing Jiang; Veaceslav Coropceanu; Jean Luc Brédas; Yongfang Li; Yaowen Li; Feng Gao

doi:10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5

Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control

Rui Zhang, Haiyang Chen, Tonghui Wang, Libor Kobera, Lilin He, Yuting Huang, Junyuan Ding, Ben Zhang, Azzaya Khasbaatar, Sadisha Nanayakkara, Jialei Zheng, Weijie Chen, Ying Diao, Sabina Abbrent, Jiri Brus, Aidan H. Coffey, Chenhui Zhu, Heng Liu, Xinhui Lu, Qing JiangVeaceslav Coropceanu, Jean Luc Brédas, Yongfang Li, Yaowen Li, Feng Gao

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Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is exceeding 20%, an advance in which morphology optimization has played a significant role. It is generally accepted that the processing solvent (or solvent mixture) can help optimize morphology, impacting the OSC efficiency. Here we develop OSCs that show strong tolerance to a range of processing solvents, with all devices delivering high power conversion efficiencies around 19%. By investigating the solution states, the film formation dynamics and the characteristics of the processed films both experimentally and computationally, we identify the key factors that control morphology, that is, the interactions between the side chains of the acceptor materials and the solvent as well as the interactions between the donor and acceptor materials. Our work provides new understanding on the long-standing question of morphology control and effective guides to design OSC materials towards practical applications, where green solvents are required for large-scale processing.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Energy
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5
State	Accepted/In press - 2024

Funding

We thank O. Ingan\u00E4s, H. Zhang, Y. Li and N. Jain for insightful discussions and inputs. We thank C. Wang for RSoXS measurement and data analysis. This work was supported by the Swedish Strategic Research Foundation through a Future Research Leader programme to F.G. (FFL 18-0322); the National Natural Science Foundation of China to Yaowen Li (52325307); the Swedish Government Strategic Research Area in Materials Science on Functional Materials at Link\u00F6ping University (faculty grant number SFO-Mat-LiU #2009-00971); the Wallenberg Initiative Materials Science for Sustainability WISE; Olle Engkvists Stiftelse; the US Office of Naval Research and US Office of Naval Research Global under grant number N62909-23-1-2043; the Office of Naval Research under award numbers N00014-20-1-2110 and N00014-24-1-2114; and the University of Arizona Institute of Energy Solutions and Office for Research, Innovation, and Impact for support via the Arizona Technology and Research Initiative Fund. The 2D NMR measurement and analysis was supported by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (grant GA24-10199S). T.W. and Q.J. acknowledge supports by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (number 52130101) and the National Key R&D Program of China (grant number 2023YFB3003001), \u2018Xiaomi Young Scholar\u2019 project. H.C. acknowledges the National Natural Science Foundation of China (22309129). The static/in situ 2D GIWAXS data were acquired at beamlines 7.3.3 at the Advanced Light Source, which is supported by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the US Department of Energy (DE-AC02-05CH11231). Y.D. and A.K. acknowledge support by the Office of Naval Research under grant number N00014-22-1-2202. This research used resources at the High Flux Isotope Reactor, a DOE Office of Science User Facility operated by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The beam time was allocated to CG2 on proposal number IPTS-31199.1. F.G. is a Wallenberg Scholar. H.L. and X.L. would like to acknowledge the support from the Research Grants Council (RGC) of Hong Kong (number 14304723).

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Zhang, R., Chen, H., Wang, T., Kobera, L., He, L., Huang, Y., Ding, J., Zhang, B., Khasbaatar, A., Nanayakkara, S., Zheng, J., Chen, W., Diao, Y., Abbrent, S., Brus, J., Coffey, A. H., Zhu, C., Liu, H., Lu, X., ... Gao, F. (Accepted/In press). Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control. Nature Energy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5

@article{852a8ddfbf9a4635b57f76d75f5612eb,

title = "Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control",

abstract = "The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is exceeding 20%, an advance in which morphology optimization has played a significant role. It is generally accepted that the processing solvent (or solvent mixture) can help optimize morphology, impacting the OSC efficiency. Here we develop OSCs that show strong tolerance to a range of processing solvents, with all devices delivering high power conversion efficiencies around 19%. By investigating the solution states, the film formation dynamics and the characteristics of the processed films both experimentally and computationally, we identify the key factors that control morphology, that is, the interactions between the side chains of the acceptor materials and the solvent as well as the interactions between the donor and acceptor materials. Our work provides new understanding on the long-standing question of morphology control and effective guides to design OSC materials towards practical applications, where green solvents are required for large-scale processing.",

author = "Rui Zhang and Haiyang Chen and Tonghui Wang and Libor Kobera and Lilin He and Yuting Huang and Junyuan Ding and Ben Zhang and Azzaya Khasbaatar and Sadisha Nanayakkara and Jialei Zheng and Weijie Chen and Ying Diao and Sabina Abbrent and Jiri Brus and Coffey, {Aidan H.} and Chenhui Zhu and Heng Liu and Xinhui Lu and Qing Jiang and Veaceslav Coropceanu and Br{\'e}das, {Jean Luc} and Yongfang Li and Yaowen Li and Feng Gao",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} The Author(s) 2024.",

year = "2024",

doi = "10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5",

language = "English",

journal = "Nature Energy",

issn = "2058-7546",

publisher = "Nature Research",

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Zhang, R, Chen, H, Wang, T, Kobera, L, He, L, Huang, Y, Ding, J, Zhang, B, Khasbaatar, A, Nanayakkara, S, Zheng, J, Chen, W, Diao, Y, Abbrent, S, Brus, J, Coffey, AH, Zhu, C, Liu, H, Lu, X, Jiang, Q, Coropceanu, V, Brédas, JL, Li, Y, Li, Y & Gao, F 2024, 'Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control', Nature Energy. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5

TY - JOUR

T1 - Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control

AU - Zhang, Rui

AU - Chen, Haiyang

AU - Wang, Tonghui

AU - Kobera, Libor

AU - He, Lilin

AU - Huang, Yuting

AU - Ding, Junyuan

AU - Zhang, Ben

AU - Khasbaatar, Azzaya

AU - Nanayakkara, Sadisha

AU - Zheng, Jialei

AU - Chen, Weijie

AU - Diao, Ying

AU - Abbrent, Sabina

AU - Brus, Jiri

AU - Coffey, Aidan H.

AU - Zhu, Chenhui

AU - Liu, Heng

AU - Lu, Xinhui

AU - Jiang, Qing

AU - Coropceanu, Veaceslav

AU - Brédas, Jean Luc

AU - Li, Yongfang

AU - Li, Yaowen

AU - Gao, Feng

PY - 2024

Y1 - 2024

N2 - The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is exceeding 20%, an advance in which morphology optimization has played a significant role. It is generally accepted that the processing solvent (or solvent mixture) can help optimize morphology, impacting the OSC efficiency. Here we develop OSCs that show strong tolerance to a range of processing solvents, with all devices delivering high power conversion efficiencies around 19%. By investigating the solution states, the film formation dynamics and the characteristics of the processed films both experimentally and computationally, we identify the key factors that control morphology, that is, the interactions between the side chains of the acceptor materials and the solvent as well as the interactions between the donor and acceptor materials. Our work provides new understanding on the long-standing question of morphology control and effective guides to design OSC materials towards practical applications, where green solvents are required for large-scale processing.

AB - The power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells (OSCs) is exceeding 20%, an advance in which morphology optimization has played a significant role. It is generally accepted that the processing solvent (or solvent mixture) can help optimize morphology, impacting the OSC efficiency. Here we develop OSCs that show strong tolerance to a range of processing solvents, with all devices delivering high power conversion efficiencies around 19%. By investigating the solution states, the film formation dynamics and the characteristics of the processed films both experimentally and computationally, we identify the key factors that control morphology, that is, the interactions between the side chains of the acceptor materials and the solvent as well as the interactions between the donor and acceptor materials. Our work provides new understanding on the long-standing question of morphology control and effective guides to design OSC materials towards practical applications, where green solvents are required for large-scale processing.

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DO - 10.1038/s41560-024-01678-5

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85211352299

SN - 2058-7546

JO - Nature Energy

JF - Nature Energy

ER -

Equally high efficiencies of organic solar cells processed from different solvents reveal key factors for morphology control

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