Topic: Research on Polymer Acceptor Materials in High-Efficiency and Stable All-Polymer Solar Cells

Lecturer: Dr. Yu Han, Assistant Professor, Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Time: March 19, 2025, 10:30-11:30, UTC+8

Venue: Room 201, Library Building, Mafangshan West Campus

Biography:

Dr. Yu Han is an Assistant Professor and doctoral supervisor at the Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, and an independent principal investigator (PI). She received her B.S. in Chemistry from Peking University in 2017 and her Ph.D. from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) in 2021. Following her doctoral studies, she conducted postdoctoral research at HKUST with support from the Innovation and Technology Fund (ITF) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. Since 2024, she has been a faculty member at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. Dr. Yu’s research focuses on the design and synthesis of novel photovoltaic materials, particularly exploring structure-property relationships in all-polymer solar cells. Her work has led to groundbreaking advancements in device efficiency and stability, setting multiple efficiency records for all-polymer solar cells. She currently leads a General Research Fund project from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council and has published 69 SCI papers in top-tier journals such as Nature Review Materials, Nature Communications, and Joule.

Abstract:

Organic solar cells (OSCs) have garnered significant attention from academia and industry due to their portability, transparency, flexibility, and simple fabrication process. However, device stability remains a critical barrier to the commercialization of small-molecule-acceptor-based OSCs. With the emergence of Y-series small-molecule acceptors and their polymer derivatives, all-polymer solar cells incorporating Y-series polymer acceptors have achieved remarkable efficiencies exceeding 19%. This lecture will present innovative design strategies for high-performance polymer acceptors, including terminal fluorination, vinyl-bridged conformation locking, core-core coupling, and ternary complementary approaches. These strategies enhance light absorption and morphological control in the active layer, thereby simultaneously improving device efficiency and stability. By precisely modulating intramolecular charge transfer effects and intermolecular interactions, our all-polymer solar cells can be tailored for diverse applications—such as semi-transparent photovoltaics and indoor photovoltaic devices—to meet the growing demands of the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.

Edited by: Li Huihui, Li Tiantian

Source: International School of Materials Science and Engineering (School of Materials and Microelectronics)