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A novel polythiophene derivative, PBT1, was designed, synthesized, and applied in polymer solar cells (PSCs). This work provides a successful example of using molecular structure as a tool to realize optimal photovoltaic performance with high polymer content, thus enabling the realization of efficient photoabsorption in very thin films. As a result, an efficiency of 6.88% was recorded in a PSC with a 75 nm active layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-work-function active metals are commonly used as cathode in polymer solar cells (PSCs), but sensitivity of the active metals towards moisture and oxygen results in poor stability of the devices. Therefore, solution-proceessable and stable cathode buffer layer is of great importance for the application of PSCs. Here we demonstrate high performance PSCs by employing as-prepared zirconium acetylacetonate (a-ZrAcac) film spin-cast from its ethanol solution as cathode buffer layer. The PSCs based on a low bandgap polymer PBDTBDD as donor and PC60BM as acceptor with a-ZrAcac/Al cathode demonstrated an average power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.75% which is significantly improved than that of the devices with traditional Ca/Al cathode. The improved photovoltaic performance is benefitted from the decreased series resistance and enhanced light harvest of the PSCs with the a-ZrAcac/Al cathode. The results indicate that a-ZrAcac is a promising high performance cathode buffer layer for fabricating large area flexible PSCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]