Resolving the Mechanisms of Photocurrent Improvement in Ternary Organic Solar Cells

The ultralow band gap small-molecule IEICO-4F has been employed as a secondary acceptor in both fullerene-based (PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM) and nonfullerene-based (PBDB-T:ITIC) ternary organic solar cells (OSCs). Structural characterization methods combined with ultrafast spectroscopy have been applied to resolve the mechanisms, leading to the observed improvement in device efficiency upon addition of IEICO-4F. It is shown that IEICO-4F forms ternary mixed domains in the host systems and improves the device efficiency by broadening the absorption spectral range and enhancing both charge separation and charge transport. The enhanced crystallinity of the semiconductor polymer electron donors in the presence of the EIECO-4 provides additional channels for ultrafast charge transfer and transport compared to binary systems. The optimum ternary blend formulations required to improve device efficiencies are reported. This work provides new insights into the fabrication of high-performance ternary OSCs.