Long-term efficient organic photovoltaics based on quaternary bulk heterojunctions.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28091606.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14068 and PMC identifier 5241808.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A major impediment to the commercialization of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is attaining long-term morphological stability of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layer. To secure the stability while pursuing optimized performance, multi-component BHJ-based OPVs have been strategically explored. Here we demonstrate the use of quaternary BHJs (q-BHJs) composed of two conjugated polymer donors and two fullerene acceptors as a novel platform to produce high-efficiency and long-term durable OPVs. A q-BHJ OPV (q-OPV) with an experimentally optimized composition exhibits an enhanced efficiency and extended operational lifetime than does the binary reference OPV. The q-OPV would retain more than 72% of its initial efficiency (for example, 8.42-6.06%) after a 1-year operation at an elevated temperature of 65 °C. This is superior to those of the state-of-the-art BHJ-based OPVs. We attribute the enhanced stability to the significant suppression of domain growth and phase separation between the components via kinetic trapping effect.