Development of materials for record efficiency polymer solar cells

A research team led by Prof. He Yan (Chemistry) has developed a family of polymer and fullerene materials that enabled multiple cases of high-efficiency polymer solar cells. The team discovered a material design motif that led to three new polymers and over ten high-performance material combinations yielding solar cell efficiencies of up to 10.8%, a new record for single-junction polymer solar cells. In a paper published recently in Nature Communications, Prof. Yan and his collaborators from North Carolina State University show that the temperature dependent aggregation properties of the polymers is the key to creating highly efficient polymer solar cells that can be mass produced relatively cheaply. These findings open the door to experimentation with different chemical mixtures that comprise the active layers of the cells. Prof Yan’s group also achieved record efficiencies in other sub-categories of organic solar cells. Innovations in new acceptor materials have greatly broadened material choices for organic solar cells and will facilitate the development of high-efficiency, low-cost solar cells in the long run. Three important papers describing these results have been published in Advanced Materials and Energy and Environmental Science