Sus Energy Fuels.pdf (1.88 MB)
Download fileHighly efficient fullerene and non-fullerene based ternary organic solar cells incorporating a new tetrathiocin-cored semiconductor
journal contribution
posted on 28.06.2019, 13:43 authored by Lethy Krishnan Jagadamma, Rupert G.D. Taylor, Alexander L. Kanibolotsky, Muhammad Tariq Sajjad, Iain WrightIain Wright, Peter N. Horton, Simon J. Coles, Ifor D. W. Samuel, Peter J. SkabaraA new dual-chain oligothiophene-based organic semiconductor, EH-5T-TTC, is presented. The molecule
contains two conjugated chains linked by a fused tetrathiocin core. X-ray crystallography reveals a boat
conformation within the 8-membered sulfur heterocycle core and extensive p–p and intermolecular
sulfur–sulfur interactions in the bulk, leading to a 2-dimensional structure. This unusual molecule has
been studied as a ternary component in organic solar cell blends containing the electron donor PTB7-Th
and both fullerene (PC71BM) and non-fullerene acceptors ITIC and EH-IDTBR. By incorporating EH-5TTTC as a ternary component, the power conversion efficiency of the binary blends containing nonfullerene acceptor increases by 17% (from 7.8% to 9.2%) and by 85% for the binary blend with fullerene
acceptor (from 3.3% to 6.3%). Detailed characterisation of the ternary blend systems implies that the
ternary small molecule EH-5T-TTC functions differently in polymer:fullerene and polymer:non-fullerene
blends and has dual functions of morphology modification and complementary spectral absorption.
Funding
We thank the EPSRC for funding under grants EP/L012200/1 and EP/L012294/1.
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