π-Extended End Groups Enable High-Performance All-Polymer Solar Cells
with Near-Infrared Absorption
Abstract
Narrow-bandgap n-type polymers are essential for advancing the
development of all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). Herein, we developed
a novel polymer acceptor PNT with π-extended
2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[b]naphthalen-1-ylidene)
malononitrile (CPNM) end groups. Compared to commonly used
2-(3-oxo-2,3-dihydro-1H-cyclopenta[b]naphthalen-1ylidene)
malononitrile (IC) units, CPNM units have a further extended fused ring,
providing the PNT polymer with extended absorption into the near-IR
region (903 nm) and exhibiting a narrow optical bandgap (1.37 eV).
Furthermore, PNT exhibits high electron mobility (6.79 ×
10−4 cm2 V−1
S−1) and a relatively high-lying lowest unoccupied
molecular orbital (LUMO) energy level of −3.80 eV. When blended with
PBDB-T, all-PSC achieves a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 13.7%
and a high short-circuit current density (JSC) of
24.4 mA cm−2, mainly attributed to broad absorption
(600-900 nm) and efficient charge separation and collection. Our study
provides a promising polymer acceptor for all-PSCs and demonstrates that
π-extended CPNM units are important to achieve high-performance for
all-PSCs.