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Influence of an Amide-Functionalized Monomeric Unit on the Morphology and Electronic Properties of Non-Fullerene Polymer Solar Cells

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Abstract

A straightforward competent strategy to attune the solid-state morphology, opto-electronic and photovoltaic properties of conjugated co-polymers has been studied by inserting different percentages of N,N-dimethylthiophene-3-carboxamide (TDM) monomeric units. The TDM percentage was varied from 20 to 100%, resulting in widening of the energy band gap. Fabrication of solar cells was performed with ITIC-4F as an electron acceptor to accomplish power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 7.8% for P4 (minimum TDM) and 0.85% for P1 (maximum TDM) under a thermal tempering process. A drastic drop in the PCE was noted with increasing percentage of TDM which agrees well with the optical, electronic, and morphological studies. Morphological analysis revealed high crystallinity for P4:ITIC-4F blend having minimum percentage of TDM units compared to its counterparts of higher TDM percentages. A sharp increase in π-π stacking is seen with reduced percentage of TDM units, leading to d spacing of ̴ 3.6 Å. Detailed investigations regarding the charge carrier transport in relation to the π-π stacking of the polymeric film are well implemented in this work.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Energy Demand Management Technology Program of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP), granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea. (No. 2018201010636A) and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2019K1A3A1A39103027 and 2016M1A2A2940911).

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  1. Sanchari Shome and Li Yifan authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, Research Institute for Natural Sciences, and Institute of Nano Science & Technology, Hanyang University, 04763, Seoul, South Korea

    Sanchari Shome, Hee Jeong Shin & Hyosung Choi

  2. Department of Materials Engineering and Convergence Technology and ERI, Gyeongsang National University and ERI, Jinju, 660-701, Korea

    Li Yifan, Shuao Chen & Soon-Ki Kwon

  3. Division of Advanced Materials, Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology (KRICT), Daejeon, South Korea

    Dae-Hee Lim & Seo-Jin Ko

  4. Faculty of Art and Science, Chemistry Department, Pamukkale University, Denizli, Turkey

    Metin Ak

  5. School of Energy Systems Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, 06974, Republic of Korea

    Dong-Won Kang

  6. Department of Physics, Pukyong National University, Nam-gu, Yongso-ro, 45, Busan, South Korea

    Bo Ram Lee

  7. Department of Chemistry and REGET, Gyeongsang National University, Jinju, 660-701, South Korea

    Yun-Hi Kim

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  1. Sanchari Shome
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Shome, S., Yifan, L., Shin, H.J. et al. Influence of an Amide-Functionalized Monomeric Unit on the Morphology and Electronic Properties of Non-Fullerene Polymer Solar Cells. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 9, 817–826 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-021-00374-z

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