open access publication

Article, 2024

N‐Doping Donor‐Dilute Semitransparent Organic Solar Cells to Weaken Donor: Acceptor Miscibility and Consolidate Donor‐Phase Continuity

Advanced Science, ISSN 2198-3844, Page e2404135, 10.1002/advs.202404135

Contributors

Xie, Jiaqi [1] Lin, Weihua 0000-0003-3623-0353 [2] Zheng, Kaibo 0000-0002-7236-1070 (Corresponding author) [2] [3] Liang, Zi-Qi (Corresponding author) [1]

Affiliations

  1. [1] Fudan University
  2. [NORA names: China; Asia, East];
  3. [2] Lund University
  4. [NORA names: Sweden; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD];
  5. [3] Technical University of Denmark
  6. [NORA names: DTU Technical University of Denmark; University; Denmark; Europe, EU; Nordic; OECD]

Abstract

Lightweight and semi-transparent organic solar cells (ST-OSCs) offer bright promise for applications such as building integrated photovoltaics. Diluting donor content in bulk-heterojunction active layers to allow greater visible light transmittance (AVT) effectively enhances device transparency, yet the ineluctable compromise of the donor-phase continuity is challenging for efficient charge transport. Herein, a trace amount of n-type N-DMBI dopant is incorporated, which facilitates the donor:acceptor (D:A) de-mixing by strengthening both acceptor polarity and D/A crystallization. With the diminution of component inter-mixing, the limited number of donors increasingly self-aggregate to establish the more continuous phases. For the benchmark PM6:Y6-based ST-OSCs, when the donor content is reduced from regular 45 to optimal 30 wt.%, the device AVT is remarkably raised by more than a quarter, accompanied by a marginal drop in power conversion efficiency from 13.89% to 13.03%. This study reveals that by decreasing the donor content to <30 wt%, acceptor excitons induced by Förster resonance energy transfer are prone to severe radiative recombination. This is nonetheless mitigated by dopant inclusion within the acceptor phase by providing extra energy offset and prolonging charge transfer state lifetime to assist exciton dissociation.

Keywords

AVT, D/A, Forster, Forster resonance energy transfer, ST-OSCs, acceptor, acceptor excitons, acceptor phase, active layer, applications, bulk-heterojunction active layer, cells, charge transport, compromise, consolidation, content, continuity, continuous phase, conversion, conversion efficiency, crystal, device transparency, devices, diminution, dissociation, donor, donor content, dopant inclusion, dopants, drop, efficiency, efficient charge transport, energy offset, energy transfer, exciton dissociation, excitons, inclusion, inter-mixing, layer, lifetime, light transmittance, marginal drop, miscibility, offset, organic solar cells, phase, polarization, quarter, radiative recombination, recombination, resonance energy transfer, self-aggregation, semi-transparent organic solar cells, semitransparent organic solar cells, solar cells, state lifetime, study, trace, trace amounts, transfer, transmitter, transparency, transport, visible light transmittance

Funders

  • National Natural Science Foundation of China
  • Swedish Research Council
  • Chinese Academy of Sciences
  • Swedish Foundation for International Cooperation in Research and Higher Education
  • Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality
  • The Velux Foundations

Data Provider: Digital Science