Issue 13, 2019, Issue in Progress

Donor–acceptor polymers containing thiazole-fused benzothiadiazole acceptor units for organic solar cells

Abstract

Two p-type semiconducting donor–acceptor polymers were designed and synthesized for use in organic solar cells. The polymers combine a benzodithiophene (BDT) donor and a thiazole-fused benzothiadiazole (TzBT) acceptor. Two TzBT acceptor units are compared, one with an alkylthio group (P1) and the other with a more strongly electron-withdrawing alkylsulfonyl group (P2) at the fused thiazole ring. The strongly electron-accepting nature of the TzBT unit lowers the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy of P1 and P2 relative to that of the BT analog (PBDT-BT), without altering the energy of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO). Despite the smaller optical band gaps, bulk heterojunction organic solar cells fabricated using these polymers in a PC71BM blend showed high open-circuit voltages. The power conversion efficiency (PCE) of the P1-based device reached 6.13%. Though efficiency of the P2-based device was lower, photoelectric conversion extended into the near-IR region up to 950 nm.

Graphical abstract: Donor–acceptor polymers containing thiazole-fused benzothiadiazole acceptor units for organic solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
10 Jan 2019
Accepted
26 Feb 2019
First published
01 Mar 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 7107-7114

Donor–acceptor polymers containing thiazole-fused benzothiadiazole acceptor units for organic solar cells

T. Nakamura, Y. Ishikura, N. Arakawa, M. Hori, M. Satou, M. Endo, H. Masui, S. Fuse, T. Takahashi, Y. Murata, R. Murdey and A. Wakamiya, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 7107 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA00229D

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