Designing organic semiconductors for efficient infrared photovoltaics

2023 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 21K05213
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 35030:Organic functional materials-related
• Research Institution: Osaka University
• Principal Investigator: Suzuki Mitsuharu 大阪大学, 大学院工学研究科, 准教授 (20724959)
• Project Period (FY): 2021-04-01 – 2024-03-31
• Keywords: 有機太陽電池 / 近赤外光 / 有機半導体

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Organic photovoltaics is considered as a promising technology for the efficient use of renewable energy. One of the key challenges is improving the photovoltaic efficiency at near-infrared (NIR) wavelengths over 800 nm. This study evaluated newly designed and synthesized NIR-active non-fullerene acceptor molecules, confirming that non-symmetric molecules surpass the symmetric counterparts in resulting photovoltaic efficiency. In addition, one of the newly synthesized molecules showed a photovoltaic response at over 1000 nm wavelengths, with a relatively small negative impact from carrier recombination.

Free Research Field

有機材料化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

近赤外光は太陽光スペクトルのなかでも大きなエネルギーを占めており、その有効利用は社会が抱えるエネルギー課題の解決にむけ大きな意義をもつ。しかしながら、実用上有用なレベルで近赤外光電変換が可能なOPVは実現されておらず、その機能の根本を担う活性層材料の開発が急務となっている。本研究の成果は近赤外光応答型のOPV分子を設計する上で基盤的知見となり得る点で有用であるとともに、分子構造と光電変換特性の相関を理解する上で学術的意義も有する。