Peng-Qing Bi

Dual Förster resonance energy transfer effects in non-fullerene ternary organic solar cells with the third component embedded in the donor and acceptor

Non-fullerene ternary organic solar cells (OSCs) are new promising candidates for future applications in the area of organic photovoltaics. However, their low short-circuit current (JSC) values impede efforts at increasing their power conversion efficiency (PCE) levels. Maximizing the JSC is one of the critical elements for enabling high performances of OSCs. To improve the JSC of the non-fullerene ternary OSCs based on poly[[2,6′-4,8-di(5-ethylhexylthienyl)benzo[1,2-b:3,3-b]dithiophene][3-fluoro-2[(2-ethylhexyl)carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophenediyl]]:3,9-bis(2-methylene-(3-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-indanone))-5,5,11,11-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-dithieno[2,3-d:2′,3′-d′]-s-indaceno[1,2-b:5,6-b′]-dithiophene (PTB7-Th:ITIC), a polymer of poly[N-9′′-hepta-decanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT) was added to the binary system. The PCDTBT was shown to embed in both PTB7-Th and ITIC, and introduced dual Forster resonance energy transfer (FRET) effects in the resulting ternary system. In addition, the PCDTBT may have decreased the molecular coherence lengths of PTB7-Th and ITIC and influenced the charge transport. Furthermore, the PCDTBT apparently also decreased the d-spacing of the π–π stacking of PTB7-Th and ITIC, which likely increased the intermolecular charge hopping efficiency. Doping an appropriate amount of PCDTBT in the system yielded an increase in the JSC from 13.89 to 16.71 mA cm−2. The increased JSC resulted in a 15% enhancement of the PCE, which indicated that introducing dual FRET effects is an effective way to enhance the JSC and thus the performance of the OSCs.

Improving the Compatibility of Donor Polymers in Efficient Ternary Organic Solar Cells via Post-Additive Soaking Treatment

In dual-donor ternary organic solar cells, the compatibility between the donor polymers plays important roles to control the conformational change and govern the photophysical behavior in the blend films. Here, we apply a post-additive soaking (PAS) approach to reconstruct the morphology in a ternary organic photovoltaic BHJ of PTB7-Th: PCDTBT: PC71BM. The PAS-treated device has a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of about 8.7% in this ternary system. From the analyses of GIWAXS and GISAXS, the superior device performance is attributed to the favorable nanomorphology with optimum crystallinity of PTB7-Th and good intermixing of PCDTBT with PTB7-Th:PC71BM, leading to improved charge transport in the vertical direction. AFM and TRPL measurements clearly demonstrate PAS-treated film envisages a homogeneous distribution of smaller PC71BM aggregates to facilitate the exciton dissociation and carrier extraction at the interface. The increased PCE ascribed to not only the enhancement of absorption and nonradiative Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) between two donors (PCDTBT and PTB7-Th) but also the formation of a bicontinuous interpenetrating network of PC71BM.

Performance improvement of TiO2/Ag/TiO2 multilayer transparent conducting electrode films for application on photodetectors

TiO2/Ag/TiO2 (TAT) multilayer transparent conducting electrodes were deposited onto glass substrates by room temperature sputtering. The impact of Ag sputtering current on the film morphology, and the optical and electrical properties were discussed. The increase in the sputtering current led to a more continuous Ag middle layer. As the Ag middle layer became continuous, the TAT electrodes had lower sheet resistance and higher transmittance. In addition, an optimized TAT electrode with a figure of merit of was obtained at an Ag thickness of 16 nm and a sputtering current of 0.48 A. Finally, organic photodetectors were also fabricated based on TAT electrodes and the performance is comparable to reference devices with commercially purchased Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) electrodes.

Structural and optical properties of conjugated polymer and carbon-based non-fullerene material blend films for photovoltaic applications

In this work, the structural and optical properties of bulk heterojunctions (BHJ) composed of MEH-PPV and carbon-based non-fullerene nanodiamond (ND) have been investigated. The steady-state absorption, temperature-dependent fluorescence and Raman spectroscopy demonstrate the conjugated length is increased and more ordered crystalline domains are formed in MEH-PPV films with the increment of ND content. The time-resolved fluorescence spectroscopy and 2D microscopy indicate that the BHJs with higher concentrations of ND may enhance the donor/acceptor interfacial contact which favors the dissociation of excitons into free charge carriers. Solar cells based on MEH-PPV:ND BHJs were fabricated to explore the interplay between structural, photophysical properties, and ultimately, device performances. The results show that optimization of blend composition and structures with ND may improve the efficiency of the thin film photovoltaic devices.

Improved compatibility of DDAB-functionalized graphene oxide with a conjugated polymer by isocyanate treatment

2-Chlorophenyl isocyanate (CI) reacts with didodecyl dimethyl ammonium bromide (DDAB) functionalized graphene oxide (DDAB-GO) dispersed in ortho-dichlorobenzene under mild conditions. The CI treatment complements DDAB functionalization to further decrease the hydrophilicity of pristine GO sheets. The resulting CI–DDAB-GO exhibits improved compatibility with the conjugated polymer poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), compared to DDAB-GO. CI–DDAB-GO sheets can be homogeneously dispersed when blended with P3HT, resulting in an improved morphology compared to P3HT:DDAB-GO composites. The incorporation of CI–DDAB-GO can effectively reduce the dark current of photo-diodes based on P3HT composites, showing potential to enhance the performance of electronic devices based on conjugated polymer composites.

Chemically driven supramolecular self-assembly of porphyrin donors for high-performance organic solar cells

Supramolecular self-assembly of a novel acceptor–π–porphyrin–π–acceptor compound driven by intermolecular sulfur–sulfur interactions leads to the formation of J-aggregates composed of helical nanowire structures. These nanowires have exhibited interesting optical activity, and when utilized as a molecular electron donor with a fullerene acceptor in bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, a high photovoltaic power conversion efficiency of over 8% has been achieved.

Femtosecond laser processing induced low loss waveguides in multicomponent glasses

We have investigated that femtosecond laser induced optical waveguides in AF32 and in Borofloat-33 glasses. Type-I positive and type-II negative refractive index change mechanisms were established in AF32 and in Borofloat-33 glass waveguides, respectively. Lowest propagation loss of 1.1 ± 0.31 dB/cm could be attained in AF32 glass, which has a typically higher index change than in Borofloat-33 glass. Resultant losses are directly correlated with densification and non-bridging oxygen hole centers, which can be authenticated by Raman and photoluminescence studies.

Performance Enhancement in Polymer-Based Organic Optoelectronic Devices Enabled By Discontinuous Metal Interlayer

To realize substantial performance enhancement in the poly (3-hexylthiophene)/[6, 6]-pheny-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT/PC71BM)-based organic optoelectronic devices, a discontinuous layer consisting of nickel nanoparticles (Ni NPs) was introduced to embellish the indium tin oxide electrode. When the Ni layer with a thickness of 3 nm was introduced, photocurrent gain was enhanced nearly 300% at low bias without sacrificing any response speed in the obtained organic photodetectors, and power conversion efficiency of organic solar cells increased nearly by 30%. The improved performance of the polymer photodetectors was mainly attributed to the injection of secondary electrons due to hole trap states introduced by the poor interfacial contact between the active layer and the Ni layer. On the other hand, the incident light was scattered over a longer propagation path by Ni NPs in the active layer, and therefore, the performance of polymer solar cells was enhanced.