Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency

Nicola Gasparini; Franco V. A. Camargo; Stefan Frühwald; Tetsuhiko Nagahara; Andrej Classen; Steffen Roland; Andrew Wadsworth; Vasilis G. Gregoriou; Christos L. Chochos; Dieter Neher; Michael Salvador; Derya Baran; Iain McCulloch; Andreas Görling; Larry Lüer; Giulio Cerullo; Christoph J. Brabec

doi:10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency

Nicola Gasparini, Franco V. A. Camargo, Stefan Frühwald, Tetsuhiko Nagahara, Andrej Classen, Steffen Roland, Andrew Wadsworth, Vasilis G. Gregoriou, Christos L. Chochos, Dieter Neher, Michael Salvador, Derya Baran, Iain McCulloch, Andreas Görling, Larry Lüer, Giulio Cerullo, Christoph J. Brabec

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

40 Scopus citations

Abstract

AbstractA critical bottleneck for improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSC) is minimising non-radiative losses in the interfacial charge-transfer (CT) state via the formation of hybrid energetic states. This requires small energetic offsets often detrimental for high external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, we obtain OSC with both non-radiative voltage losses (0.24 V) and photocurrent losses (EQE > 80%) simultaneously minimised. The interfacial CT states separate into free carriers with ≈40-ps time constant. We combine device and spectroscopic data to model the thermodynamics of charge separation and extraction, revealing that the relatively high performance of the devices arises from an optimal adjustment of the CT state energy, which determines how the available overall driving force is efficiently used to maximize both exciton splitting and charge separation. The model proposed is universal for donor:acceptor (D:A) with low driving forces and predicts which D:A will benefit from a morphology optimization for highly efficient OSC.

Original language	English (US)
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	12
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3
State	Published - Mar 19 2021

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-03-22
Acknowledgements: N.G. acknowledges the Imperial College Research Fellowship scheme. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Project no. 182849149-SFB 953. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledges financial support through the “Aufbruch Bayern” initiative of the state of Bavaria (EnCN and SFF) and the Bavarian Initiative “Solar Technologies go Hybrid” (SolTech) and funding from DFG project DFG INST 90/917. C.C.L. thanks the European Union for the financial support. G.C. acknowledges the support from the PRIN 2017 Project 201795SBA3—HARVEST.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology
General Chemistry
General Physics and Astronomy

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10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

https://repository.kaust.edu.sa/bitstream/10754/668161/1/s41467-021-22032-3.pdf

Cite this

Gasparini, N., Camargo, F. V. A., Frühwald, S., Nagahara, T., Classen, A., Roland, S., Wadsworth, A., Gregoriou, V. G., Chochos, C. L., Neher, D., Salvador, M., Baran, D., McCulloch, I., Görling, A., Lüer, L., Cerullo, G., & Brabec, C. J. (2021). Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency. Nature Communications, 12(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

@article{8560e2142c23498b902fa1c464de91ab,

title = "Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency",

abstract = "AbstractA critical bottleneck for improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSC) is minimising non-radiative losses in the interfacial charge-transfer (CT) state via the formation of hybrid energetic states. This requires small energetic offsets often detrimental for high external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, we obtain OSC with both non-radiative voltage losses (0.24 V) and photocurrent losses (EQE > 80%) simultaneously minimised. The interfacial CT states separate into free carriers with ≈40-ps time constant. We combine device and spectroscopic data to model the thermodynamics of charge separation and extraction, revealing that the relatively high performance of the devices arises from an optimal adjustment of the CT state energy, which determines how the available overall driving force is efficiently used to maximize both exciton splitting and charge separation. The model proposed is universal for donor:acceptor (D:A) with low driving forces and predicts which D:A will benefit from a morphology optimization for highly efficient OSC.",

author = "Nicola Gasparini and Camargo, {Franco V. A.} and Stefan Fr{\"u}hwald and Tetsuhiko Nagahara and Andrej Classen and Steffen Roland and Andrew Wadsworth and Gregoriou, {Vasilis G.} and Chochos, {Christos L.} and Dieter Neher and Michael Salvador and Derya Baran and Iain McCulloch and Andreas G{\"o}rling and Larry L{\"u}er and Giulio Cerullo and Brabec, {Christoph J.}",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-03-22 Acknowledgements: N.G. acknowledges the Imperial College Research Fellowship scheme. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Project no. 182849149-SFB 953. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledges financial support through the “Aufbruch Bayern” initiative of the state of Bavaria (EnCN and SFF) and the Bavarian Initiative “Solar Technologies go Hybrid” (SolTech) and funding from DFG project DFG INST 90/917. C.C.L. thanks the European Union for the financial support. G.C. acknowledges the support from the PRIN 2017 Project 201795SBA3—HARVEST.",

year = "2021",

month = mar,

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doi = "10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3",

language = "English (US)",

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Gasparini, N, Camargo, FVA, Frühwald, S, Nagahara, T, Classen, A, Roland, S, Wadsworth, A, Gregoriou, VG, Chochos, CL, Neher, D, Salvador, M , Baran, D, McCulloch, I, Görling, A, Lüer, L, Cerullo, G & Brabec, CJ 2021, 'Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency', Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

TY - JOUR

T1 - Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency

AU - Gasparini, Nicola

AU - Camargo, Franco V. A.

AU - Frühwald, Stefan

AU - Nagahara, Tetsuhiko

AU - Classen, Andrej

AU - Roland, Steffen

AU - Wadsworth, Andrew

AU - Gregoriou, Vasilis G.

AU - Chochos, Christos L.

AU - Neher, Dieter

AU - Salvador, Michael

AU - Baran, Derya

AU - McCulloch, Iain

AU - Görling, Andreas

AU - Lüer, Larry

AU - Cerullo, Giulio

AU - Brabec, Christoph J.

N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2021-03-22 Acknowledgements: N.G. acknowledges the Imperial College Research Fellowship scheme. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledge funding from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation), Project no. 182849149-SFB 953. C.J.B. gratefully acknowledges financial support through the “Aufbruch Bayern” initiative of the state of Bavaria (EnCN and SFF) and the Bavarian Initiative “Solar Technologies go Hybrid” (SolTech) and funding from DFG project DFG INST 90/917. C.C.L. thanks the European Union for the financial support. G.C. acknowledges the support from the PRIN 2017 Project 201795SBA3—HARVEST.

PY - 2021/3/19

Y1 - 2021/3/19

N2 - AbstractA critical bottleneck for improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSC) is minimising non-radiative losses in the interfacial charge-transfer (CT) state via the formation of hybrid energetic states. This requires small energetic offsets often detrimental for high external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, we obtain OSC with both non-radiative voltage losses (0.24 V) and photocurrent losses (EQE > 80%) simultaneously minimised. The interfacial CT states separate into free carriers with ≈40-ps time constant. We combine device and spectroscopic data to model the thermodynamics of charge separation and extraction, revealing that the relatively high performance of the devices arises from an optimal adjustment of the CT state energy, which determines how the available overall driving force is efficiently used to maximize both exciton splitting and charge separation. The model proposed is universal for donor:acceptor (D:A) with low driving forces and predicts which D:A will benefit from a morphology optimization for highly efficient OSC.

AB - AbstractA critical bottleneck for improving the performance of organic solar cells (OSC) is minimising non-radiative losses in the interfacial charge-transfer (CT) state via the formation of hybrid energetic states. This requires small energetic offsets often detrimental for high external quantum efficiency (EQE). Here, we obtain OSC with both non-radiative voltage losses (0.24 V) and photocurrent losses (EQE > 80%) simultaneously minimised. The interfacial CT states separate into free carriers with ≈40-ps time constant. We combine device and spectroscopic data to model the thermodynamics of charge separation and extraction, revealing that the relatively high performance of the devices arises from an optimal adjustment of the CT state energy, which determines how the available overall driving force is efficiently used to maximize both exciton splitting and charge separation. The model proposed is universal for donor:acceptor (D:A) with low driving forces and predicts which D:A will benefit from a morphology optimization for highly efficient OSC.

UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/668161

UR - http://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22032-3

U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-22032-3

M3 - Article

C2 - 33741966

SN - 2041-1723

VL - 12

JO - Nature Communications

JF - Nature Communications

IS - 1

ER -

Adjusting the energy of interfacial states in organic photovoltaics for maximum efficiency

Abstract

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