Understanding Low Bandgap Polymer PTB7 and Optimizing Polymer Solar Cells Based on It

Solution processed single junction polymer solar cells (PSCs) have been developed from less than 1% power conversion efficiency (PCE) to beyond 9% PCE in the last decade. The significant efficiency improvement comes from progress in both rational design of donor polymers and innovation of device architectures. Among all the novel high efficient donor polymers, PTB7 stands out as the most widely used one for solar cell studies. Herein the recent development of PTB7 solar cells is reviewed. Detailed discussion of basic property, structure property relationship, morphology study, interfacial engineering, and inorganic nanomaterials incorporation is provided. Possible future directions for further increasing the performance of PTB7 solar cells are discussed.