Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells Reaching a 9.29% Efficiency Using a BODIPY-Thiophene Backboned Donor Material

A conjugated polymer donor containing BODIPY-thiophene dyads in the backbone, P(BdP-EHT), combined with a low bandgap nonfullerene acceptor (SMDPP) consisting of carbazole and diketopyrrolopyrrole units linked with a tetracyanobutadiene acceptor π-linker, was used to design bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells. After the optimization of the donor to acceptor weight ratio and solvent vapor annealing of the P(BdP-EHT):SMDPP active layer, the resulting polymer solar cell showed an overall power conversion efficiency of 9.29%, which is significantly higher than that for the polymer solar cell based on PC71BM (7.41%) processed under identical conditions. This improved power conversion efficie…

New BODIPY derivatives with triarylamine and truxene substituents as donors for organic bulk heterojunction photovoltaic cells

Abstract We have designed two new BODIPY derivatives, denoted as 6a and 6b, substituted with truxene moiety and triphenylamine (TPA) unit groups and have investigated their optical and electrochemical properties. Dyes 6a and 6b were employed as donor along with PC71BM or Y6 as acceptor for the fabrication of binary and ternary organic solar cells. After optimization of the binary and ternary active layers, we have achieved over all power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 11.37 % and 13.32% for 6a:PC71BM:Y6 and 6b:PC71BM:Y6 ternary organic solar cells, respectively, which are higher than the binary organic solar cells based on PC71BM or Y6 acceptor. The higher power conversion efficiency for te…

A bacteriochlorin-diketopyrrolopyrrole triad as a donor for solution-processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

We have designed an A–π–D–π–A small-molecule triad consisting of a bacteriochlorin (BC) donor central core linked with two diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) acceptors via ethynyl bridges (BC-DPP-1). BC-DPP-1 has a narrow optical bandgap of 1.38 eV with highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital energy levels of −4.93 eV and −3.40 eV, respectively, and it was used as an electron donor along with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as an acceptor for solution-processed small-molecule organic solar cells. After optimizing the weight ratio between BC-DPP-1 and PC71BM and pyridine as a solvent additive and subsequent solvent vapor annealing using THF, an …

Polymer solar cell based on ternary active layer consists of medium bandgap polymer and two non-fullerene acceptors

Abstract An efficient PSCs consisting of a ternary active layer containing a medium bandgap conjugated polymer P and two well-known non-fullerene acceptors i.e. ITIC-m and Y6 was fabricated. An overall Power Conversion Efficiency (PCE) of about 15.13% was achieved, with the optimized ternary active layer consisting of 20 wt% of ITIC-m in acceptors i.e. P:ITIC-m:Y6 (1:0.3:1.2). This value is higher than that for the binary counter parts i.e. 12.10% and 13.16% for P:ITIC-m (1:1.5 w:w) and P:Y6 (1:1.5 w:w). The higher short circuit current density of the ternary active layer PSCs is related to the broader absorption spectra as compared to the binary active layer analogs. The open circuit volta…

Porphyrins and BODIPY as Building Blocks for Efficient Donor Materials in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells

International audience; Advances in the synthesis and application of highly efficient polymers and small molecules over the last two decades have enabled the rapid advancement in the development of organic solar cells and photovoltaic technology as a promising alternative to conventional solar cells, based on silicon and other inorganic semiconducting materials. Among the different types of organic semiconducting materials, porphyrins and BODIPY-based small molecules and conjugated polymers attract high interest as efficient semiconducting organic materials for dye sensitized solar cells and bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. The highest power conversion efficiency exceeding 9% has be…

Photovoltaic Properties of a Porphyrin-Containing Polymer as Donor in Bulk Heterojunction Solar Cells With Low Energy Loss

BODIPY–diketopyrrolopyrrole–porphyrin conjugate small molecules for use in bulk heterojunction solar cells

Two small molecules denoted as BD-pPor and BD-tPor composed of a central BODIPY core surrounded with two DPP and two porphyrin units have been designed and synthesized. In BD-pPor and BD-tPor, porphyrins are linked to the central BODIPY by phenyl and thiophene bridges, respectively. The optical and electrochemical properties were systematically investigated in order to employ them as donors along with PC71BM as an acceptor for solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells. After the optimization of the active layer, the organic solar cells based on BD-pPor and BD-tPor exhibit overall power conversion efficiencies of 6.67% and 8.98% with an energy loss of 0.63 eV and 0.50 eV. Th…

Ternary Organic Solar Cell with a Near‐Infrared Absorbing Selenophene–Diketopyrrolopyrrole‐Based Nonfullerene Acceptor and an Efficiency above 10%

High-efficiency fullerene free ternary organic solar cells based with two small molecules as donor

Abstract Herein, we have designed a ternary system comprising of two small molecules (B2 and B3), as donor and a narrow bandgap non-fullerene small molecule acceptor Y6. The chemical structures of B2 and B3 are close to each other but their absorption spectra are complementary with different energy levels. Using these small-molecules, a ternary organic solar cell was fabricated. The presence of B2 in the B3:Y6 blend increases the photon harvesting as well as also forms cascade energy level arrangement which benefits assisting the balancing between the dissociation of excitons into free charge carriers and their subsequent charge transfer between the two donors (B2 and B3) and the acceptor (…

Synthesis and characterization of zinc carboxy–porphyrin complexes for dye sensitized solar cells

Two zinc porphyrins, 2 and 8, have been synthesized. Porphyrin 8 displays better electronic communication between the dye and the TiO2 electrode. Photophysical measurements and electrochemistry experiments suggest that both porphyrins are very promising sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). It was found that their molecular orbital energy levels favor electron injection and dye regeneration in DSSCs. Solar cells sensitized by 2 and 8 were fabricated, and it was found that they show power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 5.27% and 7.13%, respectively. Photovoltaic measurements (J–V curves) together with the incident photon-to-electron conversion efficiency spectra of the two c…

Carbazole-based green and blue-BODIPY dyads and triads as donors for bulk heterojunction organic solar cells.

Two BODIPY derivatives with one (B2) and two (B3) carbazole moieties were synthesized and applied as electron-donor materials in organic photovoltaic cells (OPV). Their optical and electrochemical properties were systematically investigated. These BODIPY dyes exhibit excellent solubility in organic solvents and present high molar extinction coefficients (1.37–1.48 × 105 M−1 cm−1) in solutions with absorption maxima at 586 nm for mono-styryl groups and at 672 nm for di-styryl groups. The introduction of the styryl moieties results in a large bathochromic shift and a significant decrease in the HOMO–LUMO energy-gaps. The BODIPY dyes show relatively low HOMO energies ranging from −4.99 to −5.1…

Porphyrin Antenna-Enriched BODIPY–Thiophene Copolymer for Efficient Solar Cells

International audience; Low bandgap A−π–D copolymer, P(BdP-DEHT), consisting of alternating BOronDIPYrromethene (BODIPY) and thiophene units bridged by ethynyl linkers, and its porphyrin-enriched analogue, P(BdP/Por-DEHT), were prepared, and their optical and electrochemical properties were studied. P(BdP-DEHT) exhibits strong absorption in the 500–800 nm range with an optical bandgap of 1.74 eV. On the basis of cyclic voltammetry, the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels are evaluated to be −5.40 and −3.66 eV, respectively. After the anchoring of zinc(II) porphyrin on the BODIPY unit, P(BdP/Por-DEHT) displays broadened absor…

A Very Low Band Gap Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Porphyrin Conjugated Polymer

International audience; A porphyrin-diketopyrrolopyrrole-containing polymer (poly(porphyrin-diketopyrrolopyrrole) (PPDPP)) shows impressive molar absorption coefficients from lambda=300 to 1000 nm. The photophysical and structural properties of PPDPP have been studied. With PPDPP as the electron donor and [ 6,6]phenyl C-71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as the electron acceptor, the bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell showed overall power conversion efficiencies of 4.18 and 6.44% for as-cast and two-step annealing processed PPDPP: PC71BM (1: 2) active layers, respectively. These results are quite impressive for porphyrin-containing polymers, especially when directly included in the p…

CCDC 1910052: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination

Related Article: Flavien Ponsot, Léo Bucher, Nicolas Desbois, Yoann Rousselin, Pritam Mondal, Charles H. Devillers, Anthony Romieu, Claude P. Gros, Rahul Singhal, Ganesh D. Sharma|2019|J.Mater.Chem.C|7|9655|doi:10.1039/C9TC02724F