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High-efficiency all-small-molecule organic solar cells based on an organic molecule donor with an asymmetric thieno[2,3-f] benzofuran unit

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Abstract

Two p-type small molecules BDTT-TR and TBFT-TR with benzo[1,2-b′:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDT) and thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran (TBF) as central core units are synthesized and used as donors in all-small-molecule organic solar cells (all-SMOSCs) with a narrow-bandgap small molecule Y6 (2,2′-((2Z,2′Z)-((12,13-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-3,9-diundecyl-12,13-dihydro-[1,2,5]thiadiazolo [3,4-e]thieno[2″,3’′:4’,5′]thieno[2′,3′: 4,5]pyrrolo[3,2-g]thieno[2′,3′:4,5]thieno[3,2-b]indole-2,10-diyl)bis(methanylylidene))bis (5,6- difluoro-3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-indene-2,1-diylidene))dimalononitrile) as the acceptor. In comparison to BDTT-TR with centrosymmetric BDT as the central unit, TBFT-TR with asymmetric TBF as the central unit shows red-shifted absorption, higher charge-carrier mobility and better charge pathway in blend films. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the all-SMOSCs based on TBFT-TR:Y6 reaches 14.03% with a higher short-circuit current density of 24.59 mA cm−2 and a higher fill factor of 72.78% compared to the BDTT-TR:Y6 system. The PCE of 14.03% is among the top efficiencies of all-SMOSCs reported in the literature to date.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21702154, 51773157), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities and the Opening Project of Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Mold and Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences (BNLMS201905).

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  1. These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Advanced Studies, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Rui Sun, Yao Wu, Jing Guo & Jie Min

  2. Hubei Key Lab on Organic and Polymeric Optoelectronic Materials, Department of Chemistry, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, China

    Zhenghui Luo & Chuluo Yang

  3. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jie Min

  4. Key Laboratory of Materials Processing and Mold (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education, Zhengzhou, 450002, China

    Jie Min

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  1. Rui Sun
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  4. Zhenghui Luo
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Correspondence to Jie Min.

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11426_2020_9753_MOESM1_ESM.docx

High-Efficiency All-Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells Based on an Organic Molecule Donor with An Asymmetric Thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran Unit

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Sun, R., Wu, Y., Guo, J. et al. High-efficiency all-small-molecule organic solar cells based on an organic molecule donor with an asymmetric thieno[2,3-f] benzofuran unit. Sci. China Chem. 63, 1246–1255 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-020-9753-x

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