Metallated conjugated polymers as a new avenue towards high-efficiency polymer solar cells.
Bulk heterojunction solar cells have been extensively studied owing to their great potential for cost-effective photovoltaic devices. Although recent advances resulted in the fabrication of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT)/fullerene derivative based solar cells with efficiencies in the range 4.4-5.0%, theoretical calculations predict that the development of novel donor materials with a lower bandgap is required to exceed the power-conversion efficiency of 10%. However, all of the lower bandgap polymers developed so far have failed to reach the efficiency of P3HT-based cells. To address this issue, we synthesized a soluble, intensely coloured platinum metallopolyyne with a low bandgap of 1.85 eV. The solar cells, containing metallopolyyne/fullerene derivative blends as the photoactive material, showed a power-conversion efficiency with an average of 4.1%, without annealing or the use of spacer layers needed to achieve comparable efficiency with P3HT. This clearly demonstrates the potential of metallated conjugated polymers for efficient photovoltaic devices.
Wong
Wai-Yeung
WY
Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, Waterloo Road, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong, PR China. rwywong@hkbu.edu.hk
Wang
Xing-Zhu
XZ
He
Ze
Z
Djurisić
Aleksandra B
AB
Yip
Cho-Tung
CT
Cheung
Kai-Yin
KY
Wang
Hai
H
Mak
Chris S K
CS
Chan
Wai-Kin
WK