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

Sang Myeon Lee, Kwang Hyun Park, Seungon Jung, Hyesung Park () and Changduk Yang ()
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Sang Myeon Lee: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Kwang Hyun Park: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Seungon Jung: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Hyesung Park: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)
Changduk Yang: Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST)

Nature Communications, 2018, vol. 9, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract For a given π-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.

Date: 2018
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-03718-7

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