Thermodynamic Properties and Molecular Packing Explain Performance and Processing Procedures of Three D18:NFA Organic Solar Cells

Organic solar cells (OSCs) based on D18:Y6 have recently exhibited a record power conversion efficiency of over 18%. The initial work is extended and the device performance of D18-based OSCs is compared with three non-fullerene acceptors, Y6, IT-4F, and IEICO-4Cl, and their molecular packing characteristics and miscibility are studied. The D18 polymer shows unusually strong chain extension and excellent backbone ordering in all films, which likely contributes to the excellent hole-transporting properties. Thermodynamic characterization indicates a room-temperature miscibility for D18:Y6 and D18:IT-4F near the percolation threshold. This corresponds to an ideal quench depth and explains the use of solvent vapor annealing rather than thermal annealing. In contrast, D18:IEICO-4Cl is a low-miscibility system with a deep quench depth during casting and poor morphology control and low performance. A failure of ternary blends with PC₇₁BM is likely due to the near-ideal miscibility of Y6 to begin with and indicates that strategies for developing successful ternary or quaternary solar cells are likely very different for D18 than for other high-performing donors. This work reveals several unique property–performance relations of D18-based photovoltaic devices and helps guide design or fabrication of yet higher efficiency OSCs.