IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natene/v8y2023i9d10.1038_s41560-023-01309-5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Origins of the open-circuit voltage in ternary organic solar cells and design rules for minimized voltage losses

Author

Listed:
  • Yuming Wang

    (Linköping University
    Hasselt University
    IMEC)

  • Jianwei Yu

    (Linköping University)

  • Rui Zhang

    (Linköping University)

  • Jun Yuan

    (Linköping University
    Central South University)

  • Sandra Hultmark

    (Chalmers University of Technology)

  • Catherine E. Johnson

    (Imperial College London)

  • Nathaniel P. Gallop

    (Imperial College London)

  • Bernhard Siegmund

    (Hasselt University
    IMEC)

  • Deping Qian

    (Linköping University)

  • Huotian Zhang

    (Linköping University)

  • Yingping Zou

    (Central South University)

  • Martijn Kemerink

    (Linköping University
    Heidelberg University)

  • Artem A. Bakulin

    (Imperial College London)

  • Christian Müller

    (Chalmers University of Technology)

  • Koen Vandewal

    (Hasselt University
    IMEC)

  • Xian-Kai Chen

    (Soochow University
    Soochow University)

  • Feng Gao

    (Linköping University)

Abstract

The power conversion efficiency of ternary organic solar cells (TOSCs), consisting of one host binary blend and one guest component, remains limited by large voltage losses. The fundamental understanding of the open-circuit voltage (VOC) in TOSCs is controversial, limiting rational design of the guest component. In this study, we systematically investigate how the guest component affects the radiative and non-radiative related parts of VOC of a series of TOSCs using the detailed balanced principle. We highlight that the thermal population of charge-transfer and local exciton states provided by the guest binary blend (that is, the guest-component-based binary blend) has a significant influence on the non-radiative voltage losses. Ultimately, we provide two design rules for enhancing the VOC in TOSCs: high emission yield for the guest binary blend and similar charge-transfer-state energies for host/guest binary blends; high miscibility of the guest component with the low gap component in the host binary blend.

Suggested Citation

  • Yuming Wang & Jianwei Yu & Rui Zhang & Jun Yuan & Sandra Hultmark & Catherine E. Johnson & Nathaniel P. Gallop & Bernhard Siegmund & Deping Qian & Huotian Zhang & Yingping Zou & Martijn Kemerink & Art, 2023. "Origins of the open-circuit voltage in ternary organic solar cells and design rules for minimized voltage losses," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 8(9), pages 978-988, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:8:y:2023:i:9:d:10.1038_s41560-023-01309-5
    DOI: 10.1038/s41560-023-01309-5
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41560-023-01309-5
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41560-023-01309-5?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chao Li & Jiadong Zhou & Jiali Song & Jinqiu Xu & Huotian Zhang & Xuning Zhang & Jing Guo & Lei Zhu & Donghui Wei & Guangchao Han & Jie Min & Yuan Zhang & Zengqi Xie & Yuanping Yi & He Yan & Feng Gao , 2021. "Non-fullerene acceptors with branched side chains and improved molecular packing to exceed 18% efficiency in organic solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(6), pages 605-613, June.
    2. Xian-Kai Chen & Deping Qian & Yuming Wang & Thomas Kirchartz & Wolfgang Tress & Huifeng Yao & Jun Yuan & Markus Hülsbeck & Maojie Zhang & Yingping Zou & Yanming Sun & Yongfang Li & Jianhui Hou & Olle , 2021. "A unified description of non-radiative voltage losses in organic solar cells," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(8), pages 799-806, August.
    3. Jing Liu & Shangshang Chen & Deping Qian & Bhoj Gautam & Guofang Yang & Jingbo Zhao & Jonas Bergqvist & Fengling Zhang & Wei Ma & Harald Ade & Olle Inganäs & Kenan Gundogdu & Feng Gao & He Yan, 2016. "Fast charge separation in a non-fullerene organic solar cell with a small driving force," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(7), pages 1-7, July.
    4. Ming Zhang & Lei Zhu & Guanqing Zhou & Tianyu Hao & Chaoqun Qiu & Zhe Zhao & Qin Hu & Bryon W. Larson & Haiming Zhu & Zaifei Ma & Zheng Tang & Wei Feng & Yongming Zhang & Thomas P. Russell & Feng Liu, 2021. "Single-layered organic photovoltaics with double cascading charge transport pathways: 18% efficiencies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Sarah Holliday & Raja Shahid Ashraf & Andrew Wadsworth & Derya Baran & Syeda Amber Yousaf & Christian B. Nielsen & Ching-Hong Tan & Stoichko D. Dimitrov & Zhengrong Shang & Nicola Gasparini & Maha Ala, 2016. "High-efficiency and air-stable P3HT-based polymer solar cells with a new non-fullerene acceptor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-11, September.
    6. Zichun Zhou & Shengjie Xu & Jingnan Song & Yingzhi Jin & Qihui Yue & Yuhao Qian & Feng Liu & Fengling Zhang & Xiaozhang Zhu, 2018. "High-efficiency small-molecule ternary solar cells with a hierarchical morphology enabled by synergizing fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 3(11), pages 952-959, November.
    7. Andrej Classen & Christos L. Chochos & Larry Lüer & Vasilis G. Gregoriou & Jonas Wortmann & Andres Osvet & Karen Forberich & Iain McCulloch & Thomas Heumüller & Christoph J. Brabec, 2020. "The role of exciton lifetime for charge generation in organic solar cells at negligible energy-level offsets," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 5(9), pages 711-719, September.
    8. Nicola Gasparini & Xuechen Jiao & Thomas Heumueller & Derya Baran & Gebhard J. Matt & Stefanie Fladischer & Erdmann Spiecker & Harald Ade & Christoph J. Brabec & Tayebeh Ameri, 2016. "Designing ternary blend bulk heterojunction solar cells with reduced carrier recombination and a fill factor of 77%," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(9), pages 1-9, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Pengqing Bi & Tao Zhang & Yuanyuan Guo & Jianqiu Wang & Xian Wei Chua & Zhihao Chen & Wei Peng Goh & Changyun Jiang & Elbert E. M. Chia & Jianhui Hou & Le Yang, 2024. "Donor-acceptor bulk-heterojunction sensitizer for efficient solid-state infrared-to-visible photon up-conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    2. Guilong Cai & Yuhao Li & Yuang Fu & Hua Yang & Le Mei & Zhaoyang Nie & Tengfei Li & Heng Liu & Yubin Ke & Xun-Li Wang & Jean-Luc Brédas & Man-Chung Tang & Xiankai Chen & Xiaowei Zhan & Xinhui Lu, 2024. "Deuteration-enhanced neutron contrasts to probe amorphous domain sizes in organic photovoltaic bulk heterojunction films," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-12, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yuanyuan Jiang & Yixin Li & Feng Liu & Wenxuan Wang & Wenli Su & Wuyue Liu & Songjun Liu & Wenkai Zhang & Jianhui Hou & Shengjie Xu & Yuanping Yi & Xiaozhang Zhu, 2023. "Suppressing electron-phonon coupling in organic photovoltaics for high-efficiency power conversion," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    2. Yunhao Cai & Qian Li & Guanyu Lu & Hwa Sook Ryu & Yun Li & Hui Jin & Zhihao Chen & Zheng Tang & Guanghao Lu & Xiaotao Hao & Han Young Woo & Chunfeng Zhang & Yanming Sun, 2022. "Vertically optimized phase separation with improved exciton diffusion enables efficient organic solar cells with thick active layers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Xuelin Wang & Qianqian Sun & Jinhua Gao & Jian Wang & Chunyu Xu & Xiaoling Ma & Fujun Zhang, 2021. "Recent Progress of Organic Photovoltaics with Efficiency over 17%," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-27, July.
    4. Wei Gao & Ruijie Ma & Top Archie Dela Peña & Cenqi Yan & Hongxiang Li & Mingjie Li & Jiaying Wu & Pei Cheng & Cheng Zhong & Zhanhua Wei & Alex K.-Y. Jen & Gang Li, 2024. "Efficient all-small-molecule organic solar cells processed with non-halogen solvent," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Jiehao Fu & Qianguang Yang & Peihao Huang & Sein Chung & Kilwon Cho & Zhipeng Kan & Heng Liu & Xinhui Lu & Yongwen Lang & Hanjian Lai & Feng He & Patrick W. K. Fong & Shirong Lu & Yang Yang & Zeyun Xi, 2024. "Rational molecular and device design enables organic solar cells approaching 20% efficiency," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    6. Jinfeng Huang & Tianyi Chen & Le Mei & Mengting Wang & Yuxuan Zhu & Jiting Cui & Yanni Ouyang & Youwen Pan & Zhaozhao Bi & Wei Ma & Zaifei Ma & Haiming Zhu & Chunfeng Zhang & Xian-Kai Chen & Hongzheng, 2024. "On the role of asymmetric molecular geometry in high-performance organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    7. Rui Zeng & Lei Zhu & Ming Zhang & Wenkai Zhong & Guanqing Zhou & Jiaxing Zhuang & Tianyu Hao & Zichun Zhou & Libo Zhou & Nicolai Hartmann & Xiaonan Xue & Hao Jing & Fei Han & Yiming Bai & Hongbo Wu & , 2023. "All-polymer organic solar cells with nano-to-micron hierarchical morphology and large light receiving angle," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    8. Hongbo Wu & Hao Lu & Yungui Li & Xin Zhou & Guanqing Zhou & Hailin Pan & Hanyu Wu & Xunda Feng & Feng Liu & Koen Vandewal & Wolfgang Tress & Zaifei Ma & Zhishan Bo & Zheng Tang, 2024. "Decreasing exciton dissociation rates for reduced voltage losses in organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
    9. Jiehao Fu & Patrick W. K. Fong & Heng Liu & Chieh-Szu Huang & Xinhui Lu & Shirong Lu & Maged Abdelsamie & Tim Kodalle & Carolin M. Sutter-Fella & Yang Yang & Gang Li, 2023. "19.31% binary organic solar cell and low non-radiative recombination enabled by non-monotonic intermediate state transition," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Xian’e Li & Qilun Zhang & Jianwei Yu & Ye Xu & Rui Zhang & Chuanfei Wang & Huotian Zhang & Simone Fabiano & Xianjie Liu & Jianhui Hou & Feng Gao & Mats Fahlman, 2022. "Mapping the energy level alignment at donor/acceptor interfaces in non-fullerene organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    11. Jing Wang & Xudong Jiang & Hongbo Wu & Guitao Feng & Hanyu Wu & Junyu Li & Yuanping Yi & Xunda Feng & Zaifei Ma & Weiwei Li & Koen Vandewal & Zheng Tang, 2021. "Increasing donor-acceptor spacing for reduced voltage loss in organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    12. Baobing Fan & Wei Gao & Xuanhao Wu & Xinxin Xia & Yue Wu & Francis R. Lin & Qunping Fan & Xinhui Lu & Wen Jung Li & Wei Ma & Alex K.-Y. Jen, 2022. "Importance of structural hinderance in performance–stability equilibrium of organic photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    13. Hao Zhang & Chenyang Tian & Ziqi Zhang & Meiling Xie & Jianqi Zhang & Lingyun Zhu & Zhixiang Wei, 2023. "Concretized structural evolution supported assembly-controlled film-forming kinetics in slot-die coated organic photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    14. Yanan Shi & Yilin Chang & Kun Lu & Zhihao Chen & Jianqi Zhang & Yangjun Yan & Dingding Qiu & Yanan Liu & Muhammad Abdullah Adil & Wei Ma & Xiaotao Hao & Lingyun Zhu & Zhixiang Wei, 2022. "Small reorganization energy acceptors enable low energy losses in non-fullerene organic solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    15. Zhen Wang & Yu Guo & Xianzhao Liu & Wenchao Shu & Guangchao Han & Kan Ding & Subhrangsu Mukherjee & Nan Zhang & Hin-Lap Yip & Yuanping Yi & Harald Ade & Philip C. Y. Chow, 2024. "The role of interfacial donor–acceptor percolation in efficient and stable all-polymer solar cells," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    16. Bin Liu & Huiliang Sun & Jin-Woo Lee & Zhengyan Jiang & Junqin Qiao & Junwei Wang & Jie Yang & Kui Feng & Qiaogan Liao & Mingwei An & Bolin Li & Dongxue Han & Baomin Xu & Hongzhen Lian & Li Niu & Bumj, 2023. "Efficient and stable organic solar cells enabled by multicomponent photoactive layer based on one-pot polymerization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    17. Sri Harish Kumar Paleti & Sandra Hultmark & Jianhua Han & Yuanfan Wen & Han Xu & Si Chen & Emmy Järsvall & Ishita Jalan & Diego Rosas Villalva & Anirudh Sharma & Jafar. I. Khan & Ellen Moons & Ruipeng, 2023. "Hexanary blends: a strategy towards thermally stable organic photovoltaics," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    18. Guangpei Sun & Xin Jiang & Xiaojun Li & Lei Meng & Jinyuan Zhang & Shucheng Qin & Xiaolei Kong & Jing Li & Jingming Xin & Wei Ma & Yongfang Li, 2022. "High performance polymerized small molecule acceptor by synergistic optimization on π-bridge linker and side chain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, December.
    19. Hongyue Tian & Mingxin Zhao & Xiaoling Ma & Chunyu Xu & Wenjing Xu & Zhongyuan Liu & Miao Zhang & Fujun Zhang, 2023. "Critical Progress of Polymer Solar Cells with a Power Conversion Efficiency over 18%," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-34, June.
    20. Chen Chen & Liang Wang & Weiyi Xia & Ke Qiu & Chuanhang Guo & Zirui Gan & Jing Zhou & Yuandong Sun & Dan Liu & Wei Li & Tao Wang, 2024. "Molecular interaction induced dual fibrils towards organic solar cells with certified efficiency over 20%," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natene:v:8:y:2023:i:9:d:10.1038_s41560-023-01309-5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.