A Device-Independent Screening Technique for Rapidly Identifying Next Generation OPV Materials

In this paper, we introduce a methodology that enables rapid down selection of promising new OPV polymers, based on a device-independent screening metric that takes into account intrinsic charge generation and transport, as well as charge carrier lifetimes. As a demonstration of our method, we present a case study using a set of well-known high performance polymers based on the benzodithiophene (BDT) moiety: PTB7, PTB7-Th, PBDTTT-CT, and PBDTTPD. Compared to current device-optimization based methods, we are able to identify the champion material in less time, taking only hours rather than months and may even be able to identify promising candidate materials that have been abandoned for device optimization.