Efficient and photostable ternary organic solar cells with a narrow band gap non-fullerene acceptor and fullerene additive

Abstract

Recent breakthroughs in molecular design have allowed for remarkable achievement in the field of non-fullerene acceptor (NFA)-based organic solar cells (OSCs) with high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of over 15%. However, despite such promising advances, the inferior stability of OSCs under operating conditions remains a prominent challenge that must be overcome for their practical realization. Here, versatile ternary photoactive systems with simultaneously enhanced efficiency and photostability are developed by introducing a small amount of fullerene (PC71BM) into a narrow band gap NFA-based bulk heterojunction nanocomposite (PTB7-Th:IEICO-4F); this approach leads to an enhanced PCE of 10.55% and a prolonged lifetime, retaining approximately 80% of the initial PCE after 500 h of operation under continuous illumination. Based on the energy levels and surface energies of the component materials, cascade energetic alignment facilitates electron transfer without trapping. The PTB7-Th/PC71BM interface provides an energy barrier to suppress recombination between holes in PTB7-Th and electrons in IEICO-4F. Moreover, a small amount of PC71BM promotes favorable molecular packing and orientation of IEICO-4F, leading to enhanced electron mobility and balanced charge transport. A study using transient absorption spectroscopy reveals that the ternary blend effectively suppresses the evolution of charge recombination. This journal is © The Royal Society of Chemistry.