Optical properties of recent non-fullerene molecular acceptors for bulk heterojunction solar cells

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent non-fullerene acceptors in organic solar cells, analyzing their optical properties through theoretical methods and comparing simulated and experimental absorption spectra.

Contribution

It provides a comparative theoretical analysis of five effective non-fullerene acceptors, highlighting their optical properties and potential as fullerene replacements.

Findings

Simulated absorption spectra closely match experimental data.

Non-fullerene acceptors show promising optical properties.

Potential for replacing fullerene in organic photovoltaics.

Abstract

For many years the faith of organic photovoltaics has been linked to the one of fullerene, since fullerene has been considered the electron-acceptor of choice in bulk heterojunctions solar cells. In the last years, the number of molecules that can be very competitive in replacing fullerene has increased significantly. In this work, we study by means of different theoretical methods five molecules that have demonstrated to work effectively as acceptors in organic heterojunctions. We discuss the comparison of simulated absorption spectra with the experimental spectra.