SusChEM: Materials and Architectures for High Efficiency Organic Photovoltaics

PI：Mark E E.P. P.建议编号：1511757太阳代表着地球上最丰富的可持续能源的潜在来源。 使用吸光有机聚合物将光转化为电的太阳能电池？有机光伏（OPV）器件--为可再生电力生产提供了一条潜在的低成本途径。 然而，为了达到与其他太阳能光伏技术同等的水平，有机太阳能电池必须将其功率转换效率提高到目前的10.5%世界纪录。 这种低效率的一个原因是OPV设备不利用太阳光谱的红外范围内的光能，这超出了可见光范围。 该项目的总体目标是为OPV设计新的光吸收材料，同时增加红外光吸收并提高电压输出，从而潜在地显著提高太阳能转换效率。 通过这项研究，还将获得关于如何更合理地调整OPV设备内的能量转换过程的基本科学认识。 作为与该项目相关的教育活动的一部分，来自洛杉矶一所社区学院的学生将参加夏季太阳能研究，通过主要研究者的实验室主持。拟议研究的总体目标是提高有机光伏（OPV）的性能通过开发新材料和器件架构，将光吸收和转换扩展到近红外（近IR）部分的太阳光谱，并同时增加开路电压向其理论极限。为此，将使用在950 - 1000 nm范围内强烈吸收的小分子作为单一和多重敏化策略的一部分，以实现可见光至近红外光谱范围内的宽带吸收。 此外，分子内对称性破坏电荷转移材料，其中包含电子供体和受体，将被设计为缩小电荷转移态，激子和开路电压的能量之间的偏移。在这方面，研究计划有两个主要目标，将互动进行。 第一个目标是制备和表征新材料的物理特性，然后第二个目标是开发在OPV器件中利用这些新材料的新型结构。 理论模型将用于预测各种近红外类菁染料的吸收能，并从这些研究中，最有前途的小分子材料将被合成，其特征在于通过光物理方法，然后在OPV器件中进行测试。 还将进行合成和物理表征研究，以确定控制强吸收材料中对称性破缺电荷转移（SBCT）的参数。 这种基本的理解将用于设计OPV器件架构，以适应这些SCBT材料。然后将表征含有SCBT材料的OPV器件的器件物理特性，以了解可能导致开路电压增加的现象。 最后，所有的染料目标将被设计为作为合适的配体用于制备锌-染料络合物。这些新的锌配合物有望促进对称性破缺电荷转移，从而能够同时增加近红外光谱响应和增加开路电压。 如果成功，这些新的OPV材料将通过光吸收和电荷转移过程的协同设计来提高太阳能转换效率。

PI: Mark E ThompsonProposal Number: 1511757The sun represents the most abundant potential source of sustainable energy on earth. Solar cells that use light-absorbing organic polymers to convert light to electricity ? organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices - offer a potentially low-cost route for renewable electricity production. However, in order to achieve parity with other solar photovoltaic technologies, organic solar cells must increase their power conversion efficiency past the current 10.5% world record. One reason for this low efficiency is that OPV devices do not harness the light energy in the infra-red range of the solar spectrum, which is beyond the visible range of light. The overall goal of this project is to design new light absorption materials for OPV that simultaneously increase infra-red light absorption and improve the voltage output, leading to a potentially significant incremental increase in solar energy conversion efficiency. Through this research, fundamental scientific understanding on how to more rationally align the energy conversion processes within OPV devices will be also gained. As part of the educational activities associated with this project, students from a community college in Los Angeles will participate in summer research on solar energy, hosted through the laboratory of the principal investigator.The overall goal of the proposed research is to enhance the performance of organic photovoltaic (OPV) devices through the development of new materials and device architectures that extend light absorption and conversion into the near infra-red (near-IR) portion of the solar spectrum, and concurrently increase the open circuit voltage towards its theoretical limit. Towards this end, small molecules that absorb strongly into the 950-1000 nm range will be used as part of single and multiple sensitization strategies to achieve broadband absorption in the visible to near-IR spectral range. Furthermore, intramolecular symmetry breaking charge transfer materials, which contain both electron donors and acceptors, will be designed to narrow the offset between the energies of the charge transfer state, exciton, and the open-circuit voltage. In this context, the research plan has two primary objectives that will be carried out interactively. The first objective is to prepare and characterize the photophysical properties of new materials, and then second objective to develop novel structures that utilize these new materials in OPV devices. Theoretical models will be used to predict absorption energies for a wide range of cyanine-like dyes for near-IR, and from these studies, the most promising small molecule materials will be synthesized, characterized by photophysical methods, and then tested in OPV devices. Synthetic and photophysical characterization studies will also be carried out to determine the parameters that control symmetry breaking charge transfer (SBCT) in strongly absorbing materials. This fundamental understanding will be used to design OPV device architectures to accommodate these SCBT materials. The device physics of OPV devices containing SCBT materials will be then characterized to understand the phenomena that could lead to increased open circuit voltage. Finally, all dye targets will be designed to serve as suitable ligands for preparation of zinc-dye complexes. These new zinc complexes are expected to promote symmetry breaking charge transfer, making it possible to simultaneously increase near-IR spectral response and increase open circuit voltage. If successful, these new OPV materials will improve solar energy conversion efficiency through synergistic design of light absorption and charge transfer processes.