Issue 19, 2017

Electron acceptors with varied linkages between perylene diimide and benzotrithiophene for efficient fullerene-free solar cells

Abstract

In this work, we present two new electron acceptors, TriPDI and Fused-TriPDI, in which three perylene diimide (PDI) moieties are tethered to a benzotrithiophene (BTT) core via either single bonds (TriPDI) or ring-fusion (Fused-TriPDI). TriPDI connects three PDIs to BTT via carbon–carbon single bonds, resulting in a rotatable and highly twisted skeleton. Instead, Fused-TriPDI, made through oxidative ring-fusion of TriPDI, exhibits good structural rigidity and planarity, as well as effective conjugation between PDI and BTT. As a result, the fused molecule shows up-shifted energy levels, and enhanced absorption and charge mobility over the unfused one. The polymer solar cells (PSCs) with a PTB7-Th:Fused-TriPDI blend show the best power conversion efficiency of 6.19%, which is around three times higher than that with PTB7-Th:TriPDI.

Graphical abstract: Electron acceptors with varied linkages between perylene diimide and benzotrithiophene for efficient fullerene-free solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Mar 2017
Accepted
13 Apr 2017
First published
14 Apr 2017

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017,5, 9396-9401

Electron acceptors with varied linkages between perylene diimide and benzotrithiophene for efficient fullerene-free solar cells

B. Wang, W. Liu, H. Li, J. Mai, S. Liu, X. Lu, H. Li, M. Shi, C. Li and H. Chen, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2017, 5, 9396 DOI: 10.1039/C7TA02582C

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