Ternary organic solar cells based on two compatible PDI-based acceptors with an enhanced power conversion efficiency

Abstract

Ternary solar cells have been proven to be an effective way to increase the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of organic solar cells (OSCs). Up to now, research effort has mostly focused on fullerene derivatives and acceptor–donor–acceptor (A–D–A) type non-fullerene acceptor-based ternary solar cells, while perylene diimide (PDI)-based ternary devices have been rarely studied. In this contribution, we introduced a new type of ternary solar cell based on a PDI-based small-molecule acceptor (PBI-Por) and a polymer donor (PTB7-Th) with a third PDI-based polymer acceptor (PDI-V). The introduction of PDI-V into the ternary blends not only broadens the absorption of blend films but also increases the electron mobilities. As a result, a high efficiency of 9.43% was obtained for the ternary OSC, which is 20% higher than that of the binary OSC. Detailed studies indicate that PDI-V showed good compatibility with PBI-Por in the blend films, which demonstrates a promising way to fabricate high-performance PDI-based OSCs.