Fused Cyclopentadithienothiophene Acceptor Enables Ultrahigh Short-Circuit Current and High Efficiency >11% in As-Cast Organic Solar Cells
He, Qiao; Shahid, Munazza; Wu, Jiaying; Jiao, Xuechen; Eisner, Flurin D.; Hodsden, Thomas; Fei, Zhuping; Anthopoulos, Thomas D.; McNeill, Christopher R.; Durrant, James R.; Heeney, Martin
ADVANCED FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
2019
A new method to synthesize an electron‐rich building block cyclopentadithienothiophene (9H‐thieno‐[3,2‐b]thieno[2″,3″:4′,5′]thieno[2′,3′:3,4]cyclopenta[1,2‐d]thiophene, CDTT) via a facile aromatic extension strategy is reported. By combining CDTT with 1,1‐dicyanomethylene‐3‐indanone endgroups, a promising nonfullerene small molecule acceptor (CDTTIC) is prepared. As‐cast, single‐junction nonfullerene organic solar cells based on PFBDB‐T: CDTTIC blends exhibit very high short‐circuit currents up to 26.2 mA cm−2 in combination with power conversion efficiencies over 11% without any additional processing treatments. The high photocurrent results from the near‐infrared absorption of the CDTTIC acceptor and the well‐intermixed blend morphology of polymer donor PFBDB‐T and CDTTIC. This work demonstrates a useful fused ring extension strategy and promising solar cell results, indicating the great potential of the CDTT derivatives as electron‐rich building blocks for constructing high‐performance small molecule acceptors in organic solar cells. A novel method to synthesize an electron‐rich building block cyclopentadithienothiophene (CDTT) via a facile aromatic extension strategy is demonstrated and a promising nonfullerene small molecule acceptor (CDTTIC) is synthesized. The CDTTIC‐based as‐cast single‐junction organic solar cells exhibit efficiencies over 11% with an ultrahigh current density.