Issue 17, 2024

Manipulating the functionality and structures of π-conjugated polymers utilizing intramolecular noncovalent interactions towards efficient organic photovoltaics

Abstract

Careful control of electronic properties, structural order, and solubility of π-conjugated polymers is central to the improvement of organic photovoltaic (OPV) performance. In this work, we designed and synthesized a series of naphthobisthiadiazole–quaterthiophene copolymers by systematically replacing the alkyl groups with ester groups and changing the position of the fluorine groups in the quaterthiophene moiety. These alterations lowered the HOMO and LUMO energy levels and systematically varied the combination of intramolecular noncovalent interactions such as O⋯S and F⋯S interactions in the backbone. More importantly, although the introduction of such noncovalent interactions often lowers the solubility owing to the interlocking of backbone linkages, we found that careful design of the noncovalent interactions afforded polymers with relatively high solubility and high crystallinity at the same time. As a result, the power conversion efficiency of OPV cells that used fullerene (PC61BM) and nonfullerene (Y12) as the acceptor was improved. Our work offers important information for the development of high-performance π-conjugated polymers for OPVs.

Graphical abstract: Manipulating the functionality and structures of π-conjugated polymers utilizing intramolecular noncovalent interactions towards efficient organic photovoltaics

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Edge Article
Submitted
06 Feb 2024
Accepted
25 Mar 2024
First published
25 Mar 2024
This article is Open Access

All publication charges for this article have been paid for by the Royal Society of Chemistry
Creative Commons BY license

Chem. Sci., 2024,15, 6349-6362

Manipulating the functionality and structures of π-conjugated polymers utilizing intramolecular noncovalent interactions towards efficient organic photovoltaics

S. Kamimura, M. Saito, Y. Teshima, K. Yamanaka, H. Ichikawa, A. Sugie, H. Yoshida, J. Jeon, H. D. Kim, H. Ohkita, T. Mikie and I. Osaka, Chem. Sci., 2024, 15, 6349 DOI: 10.1039/D4SC00899E

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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