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Stepwise heating in Stille polycondensation toward no batch-to-batch variations in polymer solar cell performance.

ABSTRACT: For a given ?-conjugated polymer, the batch-to-batch variations in molecular weight (Mw) and polydispersity index (Ð) can lead to inconsistent process-dependent material properties and consequent performance variations in the device application. Using a stepwise-heating protocol in the Stille polycondensation in conjunction with optimized processing, we obtained an ultrahigh-quality PTB7 polymer having high Mw and very narrow Ð. The resulting ultrahigh-quality polymer-based solar cells demonstrate up to 9.97% power conversion efficiencies (PCEs), which is over 24% enhancement from the control devices fabricated with commercially available PTB7. Moreover, we observe almost negligible batch-to-batch variations in the overall PCE values from ultrahigh-quality polymer-based devices. The proposed stepwise polymerization demonstrates a facile and effective strategy for synthesizing high-quality semiconducting polymers that can significantly improve device yield in polymer-based solar cells, an important factor for the commercialization of organic solar cells, by mitigating device-to-device variations.

SUBMITTER: Lee SM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5951883 | biostudies-other | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Stepwise heating in Stille polycondensation toward no batch-to-batch variations in polymer solar cell performance.

Lee Sang Myeon SM Park Kwang Hyun KH Jung Seungon S Park Hyesung H Yang Changduk C

Nature communications 20180514 1

For a given π-conjugated polymer, the batch-to-batch variations in molecular weight (M<sub>w</sub>) and polydispersity index (Ð) can lead to inconsistent process-dependent material properties and consequent performance variations in the device application. Using a stepwise-heating protocol in the Stille polycondensation in conjunction with optimized processing, we obtained an ultrahigh-quality PTB7 polymer having high M<sub>w</sub> and very narrow Ð. The resulting ultrahigh-quality polymer-based ...[more]

PMID: 29760443

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Project description:Large-scale commercial synthesis of bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cell materials is very challenging and both time and energy consuming. Synthesis of π-conjugated polymers (CPs) with uniform batch-to-batch molecular weight and low dispersity is a key requirement for better reproducibility of high-efficiency polymer solar cells. Herein, a conjugated polymer (CP) PTB7-Th, well known for its high performance, has been synthesized with high molecular weight and low dispersity in a closed microwave reactor. The microwave reaction procedure is known to be more controlled and consumes less energy. The precursors were strategically reacted for different reaction time durations to obtain the optimum molecular weight. All different CPs were well characterized using 1H NMR, gel permeation chromatography (GPC), UV-vis, photoluminescence (PL), electron spin resonance (ESR), and Raman spectroscopy, whereas the film morphology was extensively studied via atomic force microscopy (AFM) and grazing incidence X-ray diffraction (GIXRD) techniques. The effect of molecular weight on a conventional BHJ solar cell with PC71BM acceptor was investigated to derive systematic structure-property relationships. The CP obtained after 35 min of reaction time and integrated into BHJ devices under ambient conditions provided the best performance with a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.09%, which was quite similar to the results of CPs synthesized via a thermal route. An enhanced PCE of 8.47% was obtained for the optimized polymer (35 min microwave reaction product) when device fabrication was carried out inside a glovebox. The organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) device with the microwave-synthesized CP displayed better hole mobility (0.137 cm2 V-1 s-1) as compared to that with the thermally synthesized CP. This study also proved that the device stability and reproducibility of the microwave-synthesized CP were much better and more consistent than those of the thermally developed CP.

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Stepwise heating in Stille polycondensation toward no batch-to-batch variations in polymer solar cell performance.

Publications

Stepwise heating in Stille polycondensation toward no batch-to-batch variations in polymer solar cell performance.

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