An arylene-vinylene based donor-acceptor-donor small molecule for the donor compound in high-voltage organic solar cells

In our most recent publication, a donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) molecule has been designed and synthesized for use as the electron-donating material for organic solar cells. The D-A-D molecule (ZOPTAN-TPA) features a low HOMO level of −5.2 eV and an optical energy gap of 2.1 eV. Our best organic solar cell exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 1.9% and a high open-circuit voltage of 1.0 V. This work was developed together with the research groups of Prof. Bertil Eliasson, and Prof. Ludvig Edman.

Javed Iqbal, Jenny Enevold, Christian Larsen, Jia Wang, Srikanth Revoju, Hamid Reza Barzegar, Thomas Wågberg, Bertil Eliasson, and Ludvig Edman.
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells, 155, 348–355 (2016)
DOI: 10.1016/j.solmat.2016.06.018

Abstract

A donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) molecule has been designed and synthesized for use as the electron-donating material in solution-processed small-molecule organic solar cells (OSCs). The D-A-D molecule comprises a central electron-accepting (2Z,2′Z)-2,2′-(2,5-bis(octyloxy)-1,4-phenylene)bis(3-(thiophen-2-yl)acrylonitrile) (ZOPTAN) core, which is chemically connected to two peripheral and electron-donating triphenylamine (TPA) units. The ZOPTAN-TPA molecule features a low HOMO level of −5.2 eV and an optical energy gap of 2.1 eV. Champion OSCs based on a solution-processed and non-annealed active-material blend of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) and ZOPTAN-TPA in a mass ratio of 2:1 exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 1.9% and a high open-circuit voltage of 1.0 V.