Self-assembly enables simple structure organic photovoltaics via green-solvent and open-air-printing: Closing the lab-to-fab gap

Hua Tang, Jie Lv, Kuan Liu, Zhiwei Ren, Hrisheekesh Thachoth Chandran, Jiaming Huang, Ying Zhang, Hao Xia, Jafar Iqbal Khan, Dingqin Hu, Cenqi Yan, Jiyeon Oh, Shanshan Chen, Shenglong Chu, Patrick W.K. Fong, Haiyan Chen, Zhengguo Xiao, Changduk Yang, Zhipeng Kan, Frédéric LaquaiShirong Lu, Gang Li

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

27 Scopus citations

Abstract

The ultimate goal of organic solar cells (OSCs) is to deliver cheap, stable, efficient, scalable, and eco-friendly solar-to-power products contributing to the global carbon neutral. However, simultaneously balancing these five critical factors of OSCs toward commercialization is extremely challenging. Herein, a green-solvent-processable and open-air-printable self-assembly strategy is demonstrated to synchronously simplify the device architecture, improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and enhance the shelf, thermal as well as light illumination stability of OSCs. The cathode interlayer (CIL)-free self-assembled OSCs exhibit the PCE of 15.5%, higher than that of traditional inverted OSCs of 13.0%, which is among the top values for both CIL-free self-assembled OSCs and open-air blade-coated bulk-heterojunction OSCs. The remarkable enhancements are mainly ascribed to the finely self-assembly, subtly controlled donor/acceptor aggregation rate, and delicately manipulated vertical morphology. Besides, this strategy enables 13.2% efficiency on device area of 0.98 cm2, implying its potential for scalability. These findings demonstrate that this strategy can close the lab-to-fab gap of OSCs toward commercialized cheap, stable, efficient, scalable, and eco-friendly OSCs.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalMaterials Today
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 29 2022

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-05-23
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): OSR-CARF/CCF-3079
Acknowledgements: S. Lu thanks the research grant from the National Youth Thousand Program Project (R52A199Z11), Chongqing Funds for Distinguished Young Scientists (cstc2020jcyj-jqX0018), Chongqing talent plan (CQYC201903008) and General Program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (62074149). G. Li and K. Liu thanks the support from Research Grants Council of Hong Kong (Project Nos 15221320, C5037-18G, PDFS2021-5S04), Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (Project No. JCYJ 20200109105003940), the Sir Sze-yuen Chung Endowed Professorship Fund (8-8480), and Postdoctoral Fellowships Scheme (PDFS. Code: YW3Y) provided by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. K.L. thanks Guangdong Basic Research Foundation (2020A1515110156). This publication is based upon work supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) Office of Sponsored Research (OSR) under Award No: OSR-CARF/CCF-3079. H. Chen thanks the Youth Innovation Promotion Association Chinese Academy of Sciences [2020379] and National Natural Science Foundation of China [22109157]. All data, and materials used in the analysis is available to any researcher for purposes of reproducing or extending the analysis.

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