title: Fluorination-enabled optimal morphology leads to over 11% efficiency for inverted small-molecule organic solar cells.
abstract: Solution-processable small molecules for organic solar cells have attracted intense attention for their advantages of definite molecular structures compared with their polymer counterparts. However, the device efficiencies based on small molecules are still lower than those of polymers, especially for inverted devices, the highest efficiency of which is <9%. Here we report three novel solution-processable small molecules, which contain π-bridges with gradient-decreased electron density and end acceptors substituted with various fluorine atoms (0F, 1F and 2F, respectively). Fluorination leads to an optimal active layer morphology, including an enhanced domain purity, the formation of hierarchical domain size and a directional vertical phase gradation. The optimal morphology balances charge separation and transfer, and facilitates charge collection. As a consequence, fluorinated molecules exhibit excellent inverted device performance, and an average power conversion efficiency of 11.08% is achieved for a two-fluorine atom substituted molecule.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Yajie
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Jianqi
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
authors.forename: Zaiyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Lingyun
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Benzheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Zhen
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an 710049, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, CAS Center for Excellence in Nanoscience, National Center for Nanoscience and Technology, Beijing 100190, China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
authors.forename: Zhixiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wei