General Information
| Full name | Poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b;4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-)-2-carboxylate-2-6-diyl)] |
| Synonyms | PCE10, PBDTT-FTTE, PTB7-Th |
| Chemical formula | (C49H57FO2S6)n |
| CAS number | 1469791-66-9 |
| HOMO / LUMO | HOMO = 5.24 eV, LUMO = 3.66 eV [1] |
| Optical | λmax = 720 nm; λedge = 785 nm; Eg (optical) = 1.58 eV |
| Recommended solvents | Chlorobenzene, dichlorobenzene |
| Classification / Family |
Thienothiophene, Benzodithiophene, Heterocyclic five-membered ring, Organic semiconducting materials, Low band gap polymers, Organic Photovoltaics, Polymer Solar Cells, All-PSCs, NF-PSCs. |
Applications
PCE10 (PTB7-Th, PBDTTT-EFT) is one of the new generation of OPV donor polymers that could deliver on the heralded 10/10 target of 10% efficiency and 10 years lifetime. Brand new to the Ossila catalogue, this material is already showing impressive potential with in excess of 9% efficiency reported in the literature and over 7% produced when using large area deposition processes in air with a standard architecture [1,2]. In our own labs we have achieved efficiencies of over 9%.
The advantages of PCE10 are that not only does the material lower HOMO/LUMO levels and increase the efficiencies compared to PTB7, but more significantly it is also far more stable. Early indications are that it can be handled under ambient conditions without issues, suggesting that we can look forward to measuring the long term lifetime of the devices.
PCE10 is one of the most exciting materials to have made it out of the labs in recent years and offers huge potential for more in depth research. We'll be working hard over the next few months to maximise efficiencies by optimising the device architecture, and we will provide further results as we do so. In the mean time, our current fabrication routine is below, and should you have any further questions or queries please contact us.
Usage Details
Reference Devices
Reference devices were made on batch M261 to assess the effect of PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM active layer thickness on OPV efficiency with the below structure. These were fabricated under inert atmosphere (N2 glovebox) before encapsulation and measurement under ambient conditions.
Glass / ITO (100 nm) / PEDOT:PSS (30 nm) / PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM (1:1.5) / Ca (5 nm) / Al (100 nm)
For generic details please see the fabrication guide and video. For specific details please see the below condensed fabrication report which details the optical modelling and optimisation of the multilayer stack.
The PBDTTT-EFT:PC70BM solution was made in chlorobenzene (CB) at 35 mg/ml before being diluted with 3% diiodooctane (DIO) to promote the correct morphology.
Active layer thicknesses were achieved from spincasting the film at spin speeds of 2000, 2700, 3900 and 6000 rpm for 30s. Additionally, a methanol wash was performed for all devices to help remove the DIO additive. For each of these spin speeds a total of 2 substrates (3 in the case of 2700 rpm) was produced, each with 8 pixels and the data presented below represents a non-subjective (no human intervention) analysis of the best 75% of pixels by PCE (18 pixels for 2700 rpm condition, 12 pixels for each other).
Overall, the average efficiency of 8.30% PCE (9.01% maximum) was found from a 2700 rpm spin speed.
