XJTU researchers develop a ternary printed organic solar cell with an impressive power conversion efficiency by blade-coating
Recently, the research team led by XJTU professor Ma Wei from the State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials developed a ternary organic solar cell based on PBDB-T:PTB7-Th:FOIC blends by blade-coating in an ambient environment. It was demonstrated that blade-coating induces different degrees of crystallization of the three materials (PTB7-Th<PBDB-T<FOIC). The blade-coated PBDB-T:FOIC device presents higher crystallinity of the acceptor than that of the donor and higher electron mobility than hole mobility, resulting in an unbalanced charge carrier mobility. Upon the addition of PTB7-Th, which has a better miscibility with FOIC (compared with PBDB-T), the crystallinity of acceptor decreases together with a balanced carrier mobility and the highest power conversion efficiency for the blade-coated ternary organic solar cells in ambient environment (PCE=12.02%). This research shows significant potential for large-area fabrication of organic solar cells.