Low Band Gap Polymer Solar Cells With Minimal Voltage Losses.

One of the factors limiting the performance of organic solar cells (OSCs) is their large energy losses ( E_loss) in the conversion from photons to electrons, typically believed to be around 0.6 eV and often higher than those of inorganic solar cells. In this work, a novel low band gap polymer PIDTT-TID with a optical gap of 1.49 eV is synthesized and used as the donor combined with PC₇₁BM in solar cells. These solar cells attain a good power conversion efficiency of 6.7% with a high open-circuit voltage of 1.0 V, leading to the E_loss as low as 0.49 eV. A systematic study indicates that the driving force in this donor and acceptor system is sufficient for charge generation with the low E_loss. This work pushes the minimal E_loss of OSCs down to 0.49 eV, approaching the values of some inorganic and hybrid solar cells. It indicates the potential for further enhancement of the performance of OSCs by improving their V_oc since the E_loss can be minimized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]