Scalable fabrication of all-perovskite tandem solar cells is challenging because the narrow-bandgap subcells made of mixed lead-tin (Pb-Sn) perovskite films suffer from nonuniform crystallization and inferior buried perovskite interfaces. We used a dopant from Good’s list of biochemical buffers, aminoacetamide hydrochloride, to homogenize perovskite crystallization and used it to extend the processing window for blade-coating Pb-Sn perovskite films and to selectively passivate defects at the buried perovskite interface. The resulting all-perovskite tandem solar module exhibited a certified power conversion efficiency of 24.5% with an aperture area of 20.25 square centimeters.

The geometry of organic π-conjugated small molecules can impact the morphology of blended-thin films and subsequent performance in opto-electronic devices. In this report, we investigate the role of molecular conformation of perylene diimide (PDI) dimers designed to act as non-fullerene acceptors in organic solar cells. A series of three PDI dimers is presented in which the PDI chromophores are directly linked via the bay position (PDI₂, 3) or separated by one (PDI₂Ac, 4) or two (PDI₂Ac₂, 5) acetylene spacers. In all cases, the exo-position of the PDI dimers is N-annulated. New compounds 4 and 5 were synthesized via an optimized and facile synthetic pathway. Directly linked PDI dimers adopted a highly twisted conformation whereas adding two acetylene spacers rendered the PDI chromophores coplanar. ¹H NMR spectroscopic analysis of each dimer revealed a highly sensitive electronic structure that is strongly influenced by the acetylene spacers. It was found that compounds 4 and 5 with less twisted structures exhibited similar electron affinities but lower ionization potentials, lower organic solvent solubility, and red-shifted optical absorption spectra when compared to the highly twisted dimer 3. In addition, 4 and 5 showed a stronger tendency to aggregate in both solution and the solid state. This had a large impact on the performance of organic solar cells using these materials as electron acceptors. Bulk-heterojunction solar cells based upon a PTB7-Th:3 active layer could reach high power conversion efficiencies of 5.23%. In contrast, PTB7-Th:4 and PTB7-Th:5 based devices had ∼5 times lower performance owing to the formation of unfavourable active layer morphologies.

A streamlined synthetic approach to easily access complex pi-conjugated molecular materials.

In this contribution we report on solution processed red OLEDs based upon an N-annulated perylene diimide dimer, namely tPDI₂N-EH, a red-light emitting molecule.