Top

Colloid and Polymer Science

Published in:

04-11-2022 | Original Contribution

Improved photovoltaic performance of PTB7:PC₇₁BM blend by thermal annealing and solvent vapor annealing

Authors: Xiaoye Zhang, Jintao Wang, Zhanfeng Li, Shanshan Guo, Yahui Tong, Baoyou Liu, Gang Yue, Yuying Hao

Published in: Colloid and Polymer Science | Issue 1/2023

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

The ordered aggregation of polymer donor and acceptor greatly affects the charge transport and charge recombination in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The post-production treatment of the active layer is the most widely applied strategy to improve the micro-distribution of polymer. Here, we demonstrated a simple method for high performance solar cell with thermal annealing (TA) and solvent vapor annealing (SVA). For the PSCs based on PTB7:PC₇₁BM, the champion power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) were improved from 7.96 to 8.68% by employing TA + SVA and further to 8.86% with SVA + TA treatment. The enhanced PCEs of PSCs undergoing SVA + TA process are mainly attributed to the formation of a network phase separation structure with donor and acceptor phases penetrating each other and the improvement of the crystallinity of PTB7, while the improved photovoltaic performance with TA + SVA treatment is owing to the improved carrier mobility of blend films. Our work provides a useful strategy toward highly efficient PSCs without time-consuming and laborious fabrication procedures.

Graphical Abstract

previous article Facile preparation of TiO2/SiO2/modified polystyrene resin composite superhydrophobic coatings for self-cleaning and oil/water separation

next article Facile preparation of stretchable and multifunctional ionic gels via frontal polymerization of polymerizable ternary deep eutectic monomers with a long pot life

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Available only for authorised users

You J, Dou L, Hong Z, Li G, Yang Y (2013) Recent trends in polymer tandem solar cells research. Prog Polym Sci 38:1909–1928. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progpolymsci.2013.04.005CrossRef

Huang Y, Kramer EJ, Heeger AJ, Bazan GC (2014) Bulk heterojunction solar cells: morphology and performance relationships. Chem Rev 114:7006–7043. https://doi.org/10.1021/cr400353vCrossRef

Liu M, Johnston MB, Snaith HJ (2013) Efficient planar heterojunction perovskite solar cells by vapour deposition. Nature 501:395–398. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12509CrossRef

Li G, Zhu R, Yang Y (2012) Polymer solar cells. Nat Photonics 6:153–161. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2012.11CrossRef

Yu J, Wang N, Zang Y, Jiang Y (2011) Organic photovoltaic cells based on TPBi as a cathode buffer layer. Sol Energ Mat Sol C 95:664–668. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2010.09.037CrossRef

He F, Yu L (2011) How far can polymer solar cells go? In need of a synergistic approach. J Phys Chem Lett 2:3102–3113. https://doi.org/10.1021/jz201479bCrossRef

Liu Q, Jiang Y, Jin K, Qin J, Xu J, Li W, Xiong J, Liu J, Xiao Z, Sun K, Yang S, Zhang X, Ding L (2020) 18% Efficiency organic solar cells. Sci Bull 65:272–275. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scib.2020.01.001CrossRef

Wang J, Zhan X (2021) Fused-ring electron acceptors for photovoltaics and beyond. Acc Chem Res 54:132–143. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.accounts.0c00575CrossRef

Cui Y, Yao H, Zhang J, Xian K, Zhang T, Hong L, Wang Y, Xu Y, Ma K, An C, He C, Wei Z, Gao F, Hou J (2020) Single-junction organic photovoltaic cells with approaching 18% efficiency. Adv Mater 32:1908205. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201908205CrossRef

10.

Li S, Ye L, Zhao W, Yan H, Yang B, Liu D, Li W, Ade H, Hou J (2018) A wide band gap polymer with a deep highest occupied molecular orbital level enables 14.2% efficiency in polymer solar cells. J Am Chem Soc 140:7159–7167. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.8b02695CrossRef

11.

Xue L, Yang Y, Xu J, Zhang C, Bin H, Zhang ZG, Qiu B, Li X, Sun C, Gao L, Yao J, Chen X, Yang Y, Xiao M, Li Y (2017) Side chain engineering on medium bandgap copolymers to suppress triplet formation for high-efficiency polymer solar cells. Adv Mater 29:1703344. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201703344CrossRef

12.

Kim YJ, Kim MJ, An TK, Kim YH, Park CE (2015) A new multi-functional conjugated polymer for use in high-performance bulk heterojunction solar cells. Chem Commun 51:11572–11575. https://doi.org/10.1039/c5cc03815dCrossRef

13.

Park GE, Choi S, Park SY, Lee DH, Cho MJ, Choi DH (2017) Eco-friendly solvent-processed fullerene-free polymer solar cells with over 9.7% efficiency and long-term performance stability. Adv Energy Mater 7:1700566. https://doi.org/10.1002/aenm.201700566

14.

Al-Shekaili N, Hashim S, Muhammadsharif FF, Sulaiman K, Al-Abri MZ (2021) Efficiency and stability improvement of organic solar cells based on PTB7: PCBM through hot-substrate coating. J Electron Mater 50:6828–6835. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-021-09238-3CrossRef

15.

Al-Shekaili N, Hashim S, Muhammadsharif FF, Al-Abri MZ, Sulaiman K, Yahya MY, Ahmad MR (2020) Enhanced performance of PTB7:PC₇₁BM based organic solar cells by incorporating a nano-layered electron transport of titanium oxide. ECS J Solid State Sci Technol 9:105003. https://doi.org/10.1149/2162-8777/abc1c1CrossRef

16.

Romero DG, Mario LD, Portale G, Loi MA (2021) Crystallization driven boost in fill factor and stability in additive-free organic solar cells. J Mater Chem A 9:23783–23792. https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ta08232aCrossRef

17.

Vijayan R, Azeez A, Narayan KS (2019) Enhanced stability and optimized morphology induced by electric field assisted annealing of bulk heterojunction solar cells. Sol RRL 3:1900120. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900120CrossRef

18.

Chen M, Zhao B, Xin J, Cong Z, Li X, Yang L, Ma W, Wei W (2019) Effects of solvent vapour annealing on the performances of benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene and 4,7-di(4-hexyl-thiophen-2-yl)-5,6-difluorine-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole-based alternating polymer solar cells with different configurations. Dyes Pigments 161:58–65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.09.032CrossRef

19.

Sweii FBS, Bkakri R, Saidi H, Bouazizi A (2020) Effect of annealing treatment on optical and electrical properties of PCDTBT:graphene hybrid structure for photovoltaic application. J Electron Mater 49:410–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-019-07699-1CrossRef

20.

Gollu SR, Sharma R, G S, Gupta D, (2014) Thermal annealing study on P3HT:PCBM based bulk heterojunction organic solar cells using impedance spectroscopy. AIP Conf Proc 1620:150–156. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4898233CrossRef

21.

Bin H, Zhang ZG, Gao L, Chen S, Zhong L, Xue L, Yang C, Li Y (2016) Non-fullerene polymer solar cells based on alkylthio and fluorine substituted 2D-conjugated polymers reach 9.5% efficiency. J Am Chem Soc 138:4657–4664. https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.6b01744CrossRef

22.

Zhang Y, Sajjad MT, Blaszczyk O, Ruseckas A, Serrano LA, Cooke G, Samuel IDW (2019) Enhanced exciton harvesting in a planar heterojunction organic photovoltaic device by solvent vapor annealing. Org Electron 70:162–166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2019.03.014CrossRef

23.

Min J, Güldal NS, Guo J, Fang C, Jiao X, Hu H, Heumuller T, Ade H, Brabec CJ (2017) Gaining further insight into the effects of thermal annealing and solvent vapor annealing on time morphological development and degradation in small molecule solar cells. J Mater Chem A 5:18101–18110. https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ta04769jCrossRef

24.

Lin Y, Yu L, Xia Y, Firdaus Y, Dong S, Müller C, Inganäs O, Huang F, Anthopoulos TD, Zhang F, Hou L (2019) One-step blade-coated highly efficient nonfullerene organic solar cells with a self-assembled interfacial layer enabled by solvent vapor annealing. Sol RRL 3:1900179. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201900179CrossRef

25.

Li J, Xue M, Xue N, Li H, Zhang L, Ren Z, Yan S, Sun X (2019) Highly anisotropic P3HT film fabricated via epitaxy on an oriented polyethylene film and solvent vapor treatment. Langmuir 35:7841–7847. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.langmuir.9b00402CrossRef

26.

Kim Y, Park CE (2018) In-depth consideration of vertically 3D microstructured bulk heterojunction layers via solvent vapor annealing in DR3TSBDT:PC₇₁BM solar cells. J Phys Chem C 122:6514–6525. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b12577CrossRef

27.

Guo X, Zhang B, Lin Z, Su J, Yang Z, Zhang C, Chang J, Liub SF, Hao Y (2018) Highly efficient perovskite solar cells based on a dopant-free conjugated DPP polymer hole transport layer: influence of solvent vapor annealing. Sustain Energ Fuels 2:2154–2159. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8se00233aCrossRef

28.

Jiao C, Pang C, An Q (2019) Nonfullerene organic photovoltaic cells exhibiting 13.76% efficiency by employing upside-down solvent vapor annealing. Int J Energy Res 43:8716–8724. https://doi.org/10.1002/er.4870CrossRef

29.

Wang J, Tong Y, Zhang X, Li Z, Hao Y, Wang H (2022) PTB7:PC₇₁BM bulk heterojunction solar cells exhibiting 9.64% efficiency via adopting moderate polarity solvent vapor annealing treatment. Mol Cryst Liq Cryst. https://doi.org/10.1080/15421406.2022.2038456

30.

Li Z, Liu C, Gan G, Sun N, Li X, Tong Y, Wang H, Hao Y (2019) Regio-asymmetric polymers based on fluorinated benzothiadiazole-benzodithiophene for polymer solar cells with a high open-circuit voltage. New J Chem 43:3801–3809. https://doi.org/10.1039/c9nj00001aCrossRef

31.

Li Z, Wang X, Ren J, Gan G, Liu C, Sun Q, Wang H, Hao Y (2018) Benzothiadiazole-benzodithiophene based random copolymers for efficient thick-film polymer solar cells via solvent vapor annealing approach. J Mater Chem C 6:4555–4564. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8tc00553bCrossRef

32.

Wang JL, Liu KK, Liu S, Xiao F, Chang ZF, Zheng YQ, Dou JH, Zhang RB, Wu HB, Pei J, Cao Y (2017) Donor end-capped hexafluorinated oligomers for organic solar cells with 9.3% efficiency by engineering the position of π-bridge and sequence of two-step annealing. Chem Mater 29:1036–1046. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.6b03796CrossRef

33.

Liang Q, Han J, Song C, Yu X, Smilgies DM, Zhao K, Liu J, Han Y (2018) Reducing the confinement of PBDB-T to ITIC to improve the crystallinity of PBDB-T/ITIC blends. J Mater Chem A 6:15610–15620. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta05892jCrossRef

34.

Zheng Y, Wang G, Huang D, Kong J, Goh T, Huang W, Yu J, Taylor AD (2018) Binary solvent additives treatment boosts the efficiency of PTB7:PCBM polymer solar cells to over 9.5%. Sol RRL 2:1700144. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201700144.

35.

Bucher L, Tanguy L, Desbois N, Karsenti PL, Harvey PD, Gros CP, Sharma GD (2018) Photovoltaic properties of a porphyrin-containing polymer as donor in bulk heterojunction solar cells with low energy loss. Sol RRL 2:1700168. https://doi.org/10.1002/solr.201700168CrossRef

36.

Balderrama VS, Sanchez JG, Lastra G, Cambarau W, Arias S, Pallares J, Palomares E, Estrada M (2018) High-efficiency organic solar cells based on a halide salt and polyfluorene polymer with a high alignment-level of the cathode selective contact. J Mater Chem A 6:22534–22544. https://doi.org/10.1039/c8ta05778hCrossRef

37.

Lu L, Yu L (2014) Understanding low bandgap polymer PTB7 and optimizing polymer solar cells based on it. Adv Mater 26:4413–4430. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201400384CrossRef

38.

Foertig A, Kniepert J, Gluecker M, Brenner T, Dyakonov V, Neher D, Deibei C (2014) Nongeminate and geminate recombination in PTB7:PCBM solar cells. Adv Funct Mater 24:1306–1311. https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201302134CrossRef

39.

Ren J, Li Z, Zhang Z, Wang X, Zeng X, Sun Q, Cui Y, Wang H, Hao Y (2018) Thickness insensitive polymer solar cells employing D-A1-D-A2 random terpolymers based on different thiophene units as electron-donor. Org Electron 62:56–64. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orgel.2018.07.017CrossRef

40.

Heeger AJ (2014) 25th Anniversary article: bulk heterojunction solar cells: understanding the mechanism of operation. Adv Mater 26:10–28. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201304373CrossRef

41.

Huang YC, Chia HC, Chuang CM, Tsao CS, Chen CY, Su WF (2013) Facile hot solvent vapor annealing for high performance polymer solar cell using spray process. Sol Energ Mat Sol C 114:24–30. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2013.02.022CrossRef

42.

Dai T, Li X, Zhang Y, Xu D, Geng A, Zhao J, Chen X (2020) Performance improvement of polymer solar cells with binary additives induced morphology optimization and interface modification simultaneously. Sol Energy 201:330–338. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solener.2020.03.021CrossRef

43.

Mihailetchi VD, Wildeman J, Blom PW (2005) Space-charge limited photocurrent. Phys Rev Lett 94:126602. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.126602CrossRef

Title: Improved photovoltaic performance of PTB7:PC71BM blend by thermal annealing and solvent vapor annealing
Authors: Xiaoye Zhang
Jintao Wang
Zhanfeng Li
Shanshan Guo
Yahui Tong
Baoyou Liu
Gang Yue
Yuying Hao
Publication date: 04-11-2022
Publisher: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
Published in: Colloid and Polymer Science / Issue 1/2023
Print ISSN: 0303-402X
Electronic ISSN: 1435-1536
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00396-022-05034-5

Springer Professional

Abstract

Graphical Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Other articles of this Issue 1/2023

Facile preparation of TiO2/SiO2/modified polystyrene resin composite superhydrophobic coatings for self-cleaning and oil/water separation

Surface enrichment structures in a binary polymer system with different stiffnesses confined in slits

Retraction Note to: Synthesis and characterization of a novel sulfonated poly (aryl ether ketone sulfone) containing rigid fluorene group for DMFCs applications

Multiplexing fluorescent sensors for highly acidic range pH, Fe3+ ion, and temperature based on amphiphilic block copolymer

Morphological, rheological, and mechanical properties of PLA/TPU/nanoclay blends compatibilized with epoxy‐based Joncryl chain extender

Preparation and analysis of microstructural drag reduction mechanism of bifunctional associative polymers with twin tail and long-chain structure for fracturing

Premium Partners