TY  - JOUR
A1  - Samson, Stephanie
A1  - Rech, Jeromy
A1  - Perdigon-Toro, Lorena
A1  - Peng, Zhengxing
A1  - Shoaee, Safa
A1  - Ade, Harald
A1  - Neher, Dieter
A1  - Stolterfoht, Martin
A1  - You, Wei
T1  - Organic solar cells with large insensitivity to donor polymer molar mass across all acceptor classes
JF  - ACS applied polymer materials
N2  - Donor polymer number-average molar mass (M-n) has long been known to influence organic photovoltaic (OPV) performance via changes in both the polymer properties and the resulting bulk heterojunction morphology. The exact nature of these M-n effects varies from system to system, although there is generally some intermediate M-n that results in optimal performance. Interestingly, our earlier work with the difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ)-based donor polymer, paired with either N2200 (polymer acceptor) or PC61BM (fullerene acceptor), PcBm demonstrated <10% variation in power conversion efficiency and a consistent morphology over a large span of M-n (30 kg/mol to over 100 kg/mol). Would such insensitivity to polymer M-n still hold true when prevailing small molecular acceptors were used with FTAZ? To answer this question, we explored the impact of FTAZ on OPVs with ITIC, a high-performance small-molecule fused-ring electron acceptor (FREA). By probing the photovoltaic characteristics of the resulting OPVs, we show that a similar FTAZ mn insensitivity is also found in the FTAZ:ITIC system. This study highlights a single-donor polymer which, when paired with an archetypal fullerene, polymer, and FREA, results in systems that are largely insensitive to donor M. Our results may have implications in polymer batch-to-batch reproducibility, in particular, relaxing the need for tight M-n control during synthesis.
KW  - polymer solar cells
KW  - conjugated polymers
KW  - fullerenes
KW  - fluorination
KW  - molecular weight
KW  - non-fullerene acceptors
KW  - power conversion efficiency
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/acsapm.0c01041
SN  - 2637-6105
VL  - 2
IS  - 11
SP  - 5300
EP  - 5308
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Perdigon-Toro, Lorena
A1  - Zhang, Huotian
A1  - Markina, Anastaa si
A1  - Yuan, Jun
A1  - Hosseini, Seyed Mehrdad
A1  - Wolff, Christian Michael
A1  - Zuo, Guangzheng
A1  - Stolterfoht, Martin
A1  - Zou, Yingping
A1  - Gao, Feng
A1  - Andrienko, Denis
A1  - Shoaee, Safa
A1  - Neher, Dieter
T1  - Barrierless free charge generation in the high-performance PM6:Y6 bulk heterojunction non-fullerene solar cell
JF  - Advanced materials
N2  - Organic solar cells are currently experiencing a second golden age thanks to the development of novel non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs). Surprisingly, some of these blends exhibit high efficiencies despite a low energy offset at the heterojunction. Herein, free charge generation in the high-performance blend of the donor polymer PM6 with the NFA Y6 is thoroughly investigated as a function of internal field, temperature and excitation energy. Results show that photocurrent generation is essentially barrierless with near-unity efficiency, regardless of excitation energy. Efficient charge separation is maintained over a wide temperature range, down to 100 K, despite the small driving force for charge generation. Studies on a blend with a low concentration of the NFA, measurements of the energetic disorder, and theoretical modeling suggest that CT state dissociation is assisted by the electrostatic interfacial field which for Y6 is large enough to compensate the Coulomb dissociation barrier.
KW  - driving force
KW  - non-fullerene acceptors
KW  - organic solar cells
KW  - photocurrent generation
Y1  - 2020
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201906763
SN  - 0935-9648
SN  - 1521-4095
VL  - 32
IS  - 9
PB  - Wiley-VCH
CY  - Weinheim
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Stolterfoht, Martin
A1  - Wolff, Christian Michael
A1  - Amir, Yohai
A1  - Paulke, Andreas
A1  - Perdigon-Toro, Lorena
A1  - Caprioglio, Pietro
A1  - Neher, Dieter
T1  - Approaching the fill factor Shockley-Queisser limit in stable, dopant-free triple cation perovskite solar cells
JF  - Energy & Environmental Science
N2  - Perovskite solar cells now compete with their inorganic counterparts in terms of power conversion efficiency, not least because of their small open-circuit voltage (V-OC) losses. A key to surpass traditional thin-film solar cells is the fill factor (FF). Therefore, more insights into the physical mechanisms that define the bias dependence of the photocurrent are urgently required. In this work, we studied charge extraction and recombination in efficient triple cation perovskite solar cells with undoped organic electron/hole transport layers (ETL/HTL). Using integral time of flight we identify the transit time through the HTL as the key figure of merit for maximizing the fill factor (FF) and efficiency. Complementarily, intensity dependent photocurrent and V-OC measurements elucidate the role of the HTL on the bias dependence of non-radiative and transport-related loss channels. We show that charge transport losses can be completely avoided under certain conditions, yielding devices with FFs of up to 84%. Optimized cells exhibit power conversion efficiencies of above 20% for 6 mm(2) sized pixels and 18.9% for a device area of 1 cm(2). These are record efficiencies for hybrid perovskite devices with dopant-free transport layers, highlighting the potential of this device technology to avoid charge-transport limitations and to approach the Shockley-Queisser limit.
Y1  - 2017
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1039/c7ee00899f
SN  - 1754-5692
SN  - 1754-5706
VL  - 10
SP  - 1530
EP  - 1539
PB  - Royal Society of Chemistry
CY  - Cambridge
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Würfel, Uli
A1  - Perdigon-Toro, Lorena
A1  - Kurpiers, Jona
A1  - Wolff, Christian Michael
A1  - Caprioglio, Pietro
A1  - Rech, Jeromy James
A1  - Zhu, Jingshuai
A1  - Zhan, Xiaowei
A1  - You, Wei
A1  - Shoaee, Safa
A1  - Neher, Dieter
A1  - Stolterfoht, Martin
T1  - Recombination between Photogenerated and Electrode-Induced Charges Dominates the Fill Factor Losses in Optimized Organic Solar Cells
JF  - The journal of physical chemistry letters
N2  - Charge extraction in organic solar cells (OSCs) is commonly believed to be limited by bimolecular recombination of photogenerated charges. However, the fill factor of OSCs is usually almost entirely governed by recombination processes that scale with the first order of the light intensity. This linear loss was often interpreted to be a consequence of geminate or trap-assisted recombination. Numerical simulations show that this linear dependence is a direct consequence of the large amount of excess dark charge near the contact. The first-order losses increase with decreasing mobility of minority carriers, and we discuss the impact of several material and device parameters on this loss mechanism. This work highlights that OSCs are especially vulnerable to injected charges as a result of their poor charge transport properties. This implies that dark charges need to be better accounted for when interpreting electro-optical measurements and charge collection based on simple figures of merit.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.9b01175
SN  - 1948-7185
VL  - 10
IS  - 12
SP  - 3473
EP  - 3480
PB  - American Chemical Society
CY  - Washington
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Kniepert, Juliane
A1  - Paulke, Andreas
A1  - Perdigon-Toro, Lorena
A1  - Kurpiers, Jona
A1  - Zhang, Huotian
A1  - Gao, Feng
A1  - Yuan, Jun
A1  - Zou, Yingping
A1  - Le Corre, Vincent M.
A1  - Koster, Lambert Jan Anton
A1  - Neher, Dieter
T1  - Reliability of charge carrier recombination data determined with charge extraction methods
JF  - Journal of applied physics
N2  - Charge extraction methods are popular for measuring the charge carrier density in thin film organic solar cells and to draw conclusions about the order and coefficient of nongeminate charge recombination. However, results from such studies may be falsified by inhomogeneous steady state carrier profiles or surface recombination. Here, we present a detailed drift-diffusion study of two charge extraction methods, bias-assisted charge extraction (BACE) and time-delayed collection field (TDCF). Simulations are performed over a wide range of the relevant parameters. Our simulations reveal that both charge extraction methods provide reliable information about the recombination order and coefficient if the measurements are performed under appropriate conditions. However, results from BACE measurements may be easily affected by surface recombination, in particular for small active layer thicknesses and low illumination densities. TDCF, on the other hand, is more robust against surface recombination due to its transient nature but also because it allows for a homogeneous high carrier density to be inserted into the active layer. Therefore, TDCF is capable to provide meaningful information on the order and coefficient of recombination even if the model conditions are not exactly fulfilled. We demonstrate this for an only 100 nm thick layer of a highly efficient nonfullerene acceptor (NFA) blend, comprising the donor polymer PM6 and the NFA Y6. TDCF measurements were performed as a function of delay time for different laser fluences and bias conditions. The full set of data could be consistently fitted by a strict second order recombination process, with a bias- and fluence-independent bimolecular recombination coefficient k(2) = 1.7 x 10(-17)m(3) s(-1). BACE measurements performed on the very same layer yielded the identical result, despite the very different excitation conditions. This proves that recombination in this blend is mostly through processes in the bulk and that surface recombination is of minor importance despite the small active layer thickness. Published under license by AIP Publishing.
Y1  - 2019
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5129037
SN  - 0021-8979
SN  - 1089-7550
VL  - 126
IS  - 20
PB  - American Institute of Physics
CY  - Melville
ER  -