A Trifluoromethyl Group Modified Non-fullerene Acceptor Towards Improved Power Conversion Efficiency Over 13% in Polymer Solar Cells.

Herein, we report a new molecule structure modification strategy for non-fullerene small molecule electron acceptors (NFAs) for solar cells through trifluoromethylation of end-capping groups. The synthesized trifluoromethylated acceptor ITCF3 exhibits narrower band gap, stronger light absorption, lower molecular energy levels and better electron transport property comparing to the reference NFA without trifluoromethyl group (ITIC). Bulk heterojunction solar cells based on ITCF3 combined with PM6 polymer donor exhibit a significantly improved power conversion efficiency of 13.3% comparing with ITIC-based device (8.4%). This work reveals great potential of trifluoromethylation in design of efficient photovoltaic acceptor materials.