High‐Speed Slot‐Die Coating with Donor‐Priority Rapid Aggregation Kinetics for Improved Morphology and Efficiency in Ecofriendly Organic Solar Cells

• Published in: Advanced science Vol. 12; no. 27; pp. e2502077 - n/a
• Main Authors: Bi, Zhaozhao, Wu, Baohua, Wang, Ke, Xue, Jingwei, Liu, Chang, Tang, Lingxiao, Zhou, Ke, Jiang, Long, Ma, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.07.2025; John Wiley and Sons Inc; Wiley
• Subjects: Efficiency; high‐speed printing; Hydrocarbons; Manufacturing; Microscopy; molecular aggregation kinetics; Morphology; morphology engineering; non‐halogenated solvent; Optimization; slot‐die coating; Solvents; Temperature; slot‐die coating; morphology engineering; high‐speed printing; molecular aggregation kinetics; non‐halogenated solvent
• DOI: 10.1002/advs.202502077
• ISSN: 2198-3844

Solution‐processable organic solar cells (OSCs) represent a promising renewable photovoltaic technology with significant potential for eco‐compatible production. While high power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) have been achieved in OSCs, scaling this technology for high‐throughput manufacturing remains challenging. Key reason lies in the lack of efficient control strategies for the complex and long‐duration morphology evolution during high‐speed coating process with ecofriendly solvents. Here, a donor‐priority rapid aggregation process (DP‐RAP) scheme is proposed to solve this issue by adjusting the aggregation kinetics of donor and acceptor components. DP‐RAP enables blends with a nanoscale fiber network structure and favorable crystallinity, which contributes to balanced carrier transport and reduced recombination losses. As a result, the PCE is improved from 14.3% (reference) to 17.4% (DP‐RAP) for ultra‐high speed coated PM6:BTP‐eC9 devices in atmosphere, which is one of the highest values for non‐halogenated solvent‐processed solar cells at coating speeds of 500 mm s−1. Moreover, the DP‐RAP based devices remain a stable PCE of approximately 17.4% across a broad range of coating speeds (20–500 mm s−1), illustrating its tolerance to the varied manufacturing conditions. This work highlights a promising avenue for the high‐speed, ecofriendly production of efficient OSCs, pushing the boundaries of practical manufacturing in renewable energy technologies. A donor‐priority rapid aggregation strategy is developed to efficiently improve the film‐forming kinetics as well as film morphology. The resultant slot‐die coated ecofriendly organic solar cells exhibit high power conversion efficiency of 17.4% at ultrahigh coating speed of 500 mm s−1, without the need for additives or complex post‐treatment.