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Recent Research Progress of n-Type Conjugated Polymer Acceptors and All-Polymer Solar Cells

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Abstract

The active layer of all polymer solar cells (all-PSCs) is composed of a blend of a p-type conjugated polymer (p-CP) as donor and an n-type conjugated polymer (n-CP) as acceptor. All-PSCs possess the advantages of light weight, thin active layer, mechanical flexibility, low cost solution processing and high stability, but the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the all-PSCs was limited by the poor photovoltaic performance of the n-CP acceptors before 2016. Since the report of the strategy of polymerized small molecule acceptors (PSMAs) in 2017, the photovoltaic performance of the PSMA-based n-CPs improved rapidly, benefitted from the development of the A-DA’D-A type small molecule acceptors (SMAs). PCE of the all-PSCs based on the PSMA acceptors reached 17%–18% recently. In this review article, we will introduce the development history of the n-CPs, especially the recent research progress of the PSMAs. Particularly, the structure-property relationship of the PSMAs is introduced and discussed. Finally, current challenges and prospects of the n-CP acceptors are analyzed and discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 61904181, 51820105003, 52173188 and 21734008) and the Basic and Applied Basic Research Major Program of Guangdong Province (No. 2019B030302007).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bei**g National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    **ao-Jun Li, Guang-Pei Sun, Yu-Fei Gong & Yong-Fang Li

  2. School of Chemical Science, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Guang-Pei Sun, Yu-Fei Gong & Yong-Fang Li

  3. Laboratory of Advanced Optoelectronic Materials, Suzhou Key Laboratory of Novel Semiconductor Materials and Devices, College of Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, China

    Yong-Fang Li

Authors
  1. **ao-Jun Li
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  2. Guang-Pei Sun
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  3. Yu-Fei Gong
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  4. Yong-Fang Li
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to **ao-Jun Li or Yong-Fang Li.

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Notes

The authors declare no competing financial interest.

Biographies

**ao-Jun Li received his Ph.D. degree from Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS) in 2019 under the supervision of Prof. Yongfang Li. He did postdoctoral research at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology with Prof. Sir He Yan from 2019 to 2021. Then he joined the Yongfang Li’s group in CAS Key Laboratory of Organic Solids, ICCAS, in 2021 and was appointed as an Associate Professor. His main research interests focus on the synthesis and application of organic photovoltaic materials.

Yong-Fang Li is a professor in Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ICCAS) and in Soochow University. He received his Ph.D. degree from department of Chemistry, Fudan University in 1986, then did his postdoctoral research at ICCAS from 1986 to 1988. He became a staff in 1988 and promoted to professor in 1993 in ICCAS. He was elected as a member of Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2013. His present research field is photovoltaic materials and devices for polymer solar cells.

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Li, XJ., Sun, GP., Gong, YF. et al. Recent Research Progress of n-Type Conjugated Polymer Acceptors and All-Polymer Solar Cells. Chin J Polym Sci 41, 640–651 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-023-2944-0

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