Issue 29, 2006

Three-dimensional tetra(oligothienyl)silanes as donor material for organic solar cells

Abstract

Tetrahedral conjugated systems involving four conjugated oligothiophene chains fixed onto a central silicon node (1, 2) have been synthesized and used as donor materials in hetero-junction solar cells. Bilayer solar cells have been realized by thermal evaporation of compounds 1 and 2 as donors and N,N′-bis-tridecylperylenedicarboxyimide as an acceptor. Comparison of the performances of these devices to those of a reference system based on dihexylterthienyl (H3T) shows that despite comparable effective conjugation lengths, the 3D compounds 1 and 2 lead to a power conversion efficiency four–five times higher, suggesting better absorption of the incident light and better hole transport properties. Whereas fabrication of bulk hetero-junction with H3T was prevented by the lack of film forming properties, a prototype bulk hetero-junction based on compound 2 as the donor and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) as the acceptor has been realized. A short-circuit current density of 1.13 mA cm−2 and a power conversion efficiency of 0.30% has been measured under AM 1.5 simulated solar irradiation at 80 mW cm−2.

Graphical abstract: Three-dimensional tetra(oligothienyl)silanes as donor material for organic solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
22 Mar 2006
Accepted
16 May 2006
First published
09 Jun 2006

J. Mater. Chem., 2006,16, 3040-3045

Three-dimensional tetra(oligothienyl)silanes as donor material for organic solar cells

S. Roquet, R. de Bettignies, P. Leriche, A. Cravino and J. Roncali, J. Mater. Chem., 2006, 16, 3040 DOI: 10.1039/B604261A

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