A benzothiadiazole end capped donor–acceptor based small molecule for organic electronics

Abstract

A benzothiadiazole end-capped small molecule 3,6-bis(5-(benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazol-4-yl)thiophen-2-yl)-2,5-bis(2-butyloctyl)pyrrolo[3,4-c]pyrrole-1,4(2H,5H)-dione (BO-DPP-BTZ) using a fused aromatic moiety DPP (at the centre) is designed and synthesized. BO-DPP-BTZ is a donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D) structure which possesses a band gap of 1.6 eV and exhibits a strong solid state ordering inferred from ∼120 nm red shift of the absorption maxima from solution to thin film. Field-effect transistors utilizing a spin coated thin film of BO-DPP-BTZ as an active layer exhibited a hole mobility of 0.06 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Solution-processed bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics employing a blend of BO-DPP-BTZ and [70]PCBM demonstrated a power conversion efficiency of 0.9%.