Energy Transfer to a Stable Donor Suppresses Degradation in Organic Solar Cells

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that energy transfer from a stable donor molecule to a fullerene acceptor significantly enhances the environmental stability of organic solar cells by preventing fullerene oxidation.

Contribution

It reveals a novel photoprotective energy transfer mechanism that suppresses degradation in organic photovoltaic devices, improving their stability under ambient conditions.

Findings

DRCN5T exhibits high intrinsic resistance to degradation.

Ultrafast energy transfer stabilizes PC70BM against oxidation.

Device stability is maintained through constant short-circuit current.

Abstract

Despite many advances towards improving the stability of organic photovoltaic devices, environmental degradation under ambient conditions remains a challenging obstacle for future application. Particularly conventional systems employing fullerene derivatives are prone to oxidise under illumination, limiting their applicability. Herein, we report on the environmental stability of the small molecule donor DRCN5T together with the fullerene acceptor PC70BM. We find that this system exhibits exceptional device stability, mainly due to almost constant short-circuit current. By employing ultrafast femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy we attribute this remarkable stability to two separate mechanisms: 1) DRCN5T exhibits high intrinsic resistance towards external factors, showing no signs of deterioration. 2) The highly sensitive PC70BM is stabilised against degradation by the presence of DRCN5T through ultrafast long-range energy transfer to the donor, rapidly quenching the fullerene excited states which are otherwise precursors for chemical oxidation. We propose that this photoprotective mechanism be utilised to improve the device stability of other systems, including non-fullerene acceptors and ternary blends.