1. Establishing Co‐Continuous Network of Conjugated Polymers and Elastomers for High‐Performance Polymer Solar Cells with Extreme Stretchability
- Author
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Lee, Jin‐Woo, Nguyen, Trieu Hoang‐Quan, Oh, Eun Sung, Lee, Seungbok, Choi, Jaeyoung, Kwon, Hyun Soo, Wang, Cheng, Lee, Seungjin, Lee, Jung‐Yong, Kim, Taek‐Soo, and Kim, Bumjoon J
- Subjects
Engineering ,Macromolecular and Materials Chemistry ,Materials Engineering ,Chemical Sciences ,elastomer ,intrinsically stretchable organic solar cells ,mechanical robustness ,polymer solar cells ,stretchability ,Interdisciplinary Engineering ,Macromolecular and materials chemistry ,Materials engineering - Abstract
High power conversion efficiency (PCE) and mechanical robustness are prerequisites for wearable applications of organic solar cells (OSCs). However, stretchability of present active systems (i.e., crack-onset strain (COS) < 30%) should be improved. While introducing elastomers into active systems is considered a simple method for improving stretchability, the inclusion of elastomers typically results in a decrease in PCE of the OSC with a limited enhancement in the stretchability due to lack of interconnected electrical and mechanical pathways. In this study, it is developed efficient and intrinsically stretchable (IS)-OSCs with exceptional mechanical robustness, by constructing co-continuous networks of conjugated polymers (D18) and elastomers (SEBS) within active layers. It is demonstrated that the blend film with a specific ratio (40:60 w/w) of D18:SEBS is crucial for forming co-continuous structures, establishing well-connected mechanical and electrical channels. Consequently, D180.4:SEBS0.6/L8-BO OSCs achieve 16-times higher stretchability (COS = 126%) than the OSCs based on D18/L8-BO (COS = 8%), while achieving 4-times higher PCE (12.13%) compared to the OSCs based on SEBS-rich active layers (D180.2:SEBS0.8/L8-BO, PCE = 3.15%). Furthermore, D180.4:SEBS0.6-based IS-OSCs preserve 86 and 90% of original PCEs at 50% strain and after 200 stretching/releasing cycles with 15% strain, respectively, demonstrating the highest mechanical robustness among reported IS-OSCs.
- Published
- 2024