Abstract
Fullerene derivatives have been widely used for conventional acceptor materials in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) because of their high electron mobility. However, there are also considerable drawbacks for use in OPVs, such as negligible light absorption in the visible-near-IR regions, less compatibility with donor polymeric materials and high cost for synthesis and purification. Therefore, the investigation of non-fullerene acceptor materials that can potentially replace fullerene derivatives in OPVs is increasingly necessary, which gives rise to the possibility of fabricating all-polymer (polymer/polymer) solar cells that can deliver higher performance and that are potentially cheaper than fullerene-based OPVs. Recently, considerable attention has been paid to donor-acceptor (D-A) block copolymers, because of their promising applications as fullerene alternative materials in all-polymer solar cells. However, the synthesis of D-A block copolymers is still a challenge, and therefore, the establishment of an efficient synthetic method is now essential. This review highlights the recent advances in D-A block copolymers synthesis and their applications in all-polymer solar cells.
Highlights
In recent years, organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on conjugated polymeric materials have received considerable attention, because of their advantages, such as being low cost, light weight, flexible and having a facile large-scale fabrication, compared to silicon-based solar cells [1,2,3,4,5,6]
C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) OPV system enhanced power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) and long-term performance [26]. These results demonstrate that block copolymers can successfully function as OPV materials
The synthetic methodology of D-A block copolymers has been widely investigated by effectively utilizing Grignard metathesis (GRIM) polymerization, Stille coupling polymerization, Suzuki coupling polymerization, Yamamoto coupling polymerization, and so on
Summary
Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) based on conjugated polymeric materials have received considerable attention, because of their advantages, such as being low cost, light weight, flexible and having a facile large-scale fabrication, compared to silicon-based solar cells [1,2,3,4,5,6]. Polymer/fullerene (fullerene-based) OPVs, in which the active layers are composed of hole-transporting (i.e., donor (D)) polymeric materials and electron-transporting (i.e., acceptor (A)) fullerene derivatives, have achieved power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of over 10% (Figure 1A) [7]. C61 butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) OPV system enhanced PCE and long-term performance [26] These results demonstrate that block copolymers can successfully function as OPV materials. There are considerable drawbacks for use in OPVs: (i) negligible light absorption in the visible-near-IR regions; (ii) less compatibility with donor polymeric materials; and (iii) high cost for synthesis and purification. All-polymer solar cells offer potential advantages over conventional fullerene-based OPVs, such as more efficient light absorption due to the acceptor polymer and relatively high open-circuit voltages [32]. Anode (i) Absorption of light and generation of excitions (ii) Diffusion of excitions (iii) Dissociation of excitions (iv) Charge transport
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