Spirocyclic side chain of a non-fullerene acceptor enables efficient organic solar cells with reduced recombination loss and energetic disorder†
Guangkun Song,Yuzhong Huang,Fangfang Huang,Xiangjian Wan,Chenxi Li,Zhaoyang Yao,Yongsheng Chen,Yanhui Hou
RSC Advances Pub Date : 02/25/2022 00:00:00 , DOI:10.1039/D2RA00253A
Abstract

Suppressing intramolecular vibration of non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) by molecular rigidification has been proven to be an effective way to reduce the non-radiative recombination loss and energetic disorder of organic solar cells (OSCs). Thus far, extensive attention has been drawn on rigidifying the fused-ring backbones of NFAs, whereas the highly flexible alkyl side chains are barely concerned. Herein, an effective strategy of side chain rigidification by introducing a spiro-ring is developed for the first time and applied to construct the NFA of Spiro-F. Compared to its counterpart F-2F, the rigid spirocyclic side chain can constrain the vibrational–rotational motion and control the orientation of two highly flexible n-octyl chains effectively. As a result, an optimal molecular packing with enhanced intermolecular actions and lower energetic disorder is achieved by Spiro-F, endowing the OSC based on the as cast blend of PM6:Spiro-F with a significantly improved PCE of 13.56% and much reduced recombination loss compared to that of PM6:F-2F. This work provides a feasible strategy to achieve efficient OSCs through the rigidification of the side chain and could boost the PCEs further if applied to some other efficient systems with smaller bandgaps.

Graphical abstract: Spirocyclic side chain of a non-fullerene acceptor enables efficient organic solar cells with reduced recombination loss and energetic disorder