Modulating the Molecular Packing and Nanophase Blending via a Random Terpolymerization Strategy toward 11% Efficiency Nonfullerene Polymer Solar Cells

Despite rapid advances in the field of nonfullerene polymer solar cells (NF-PSCs), successful examples of random polymer-based NF-PSCs are limited. In this study, it is demonstrated that random donor polymers based on thieno[2',3':5',6']pyrido[3,4-g]thieno[3,2-c]isoquinoline-5,11(4H,10H)-dione (TPTI) containing two simple thiophene (T) and bithiophene (2T) electron-rich moieties (PTTI-Tx) can be promising materials for the fabrication of highly efficient NF-PSCs. With negligible influence on optical bandgaps and energy levels, the crystalline behavior of PTTI-Tx polymers was modulated by varying the T:2T ratio in the polymer backbone; this resulted in the formation of different microstructures upon blending with a nonfullerene m-ITIC acceptor in NF-PSCs. In particular, a PTPTI-T70:m-ITIC system enabled favorable small-scale phase separation with an increased population of face-on oriented crystallites, thereby boosting the processes of effective exciton dissociation and charge transport in the device. Consequently, the highest power conversion efficiency of 11.02% with an enhanced short-circuit current density of 17.12 mA cm(-2) is achieved for the random polymer-based NF-PSCs thus far. These results indicate that random terpolymerization is a simple and practical approach for the optimization of a donor polymer toward highly efficient NF-PSCs.