Issue 5, 2018

Influence of alkyl chain length in S,N-heteropentacenes on the performance of organic solar cells

Abstract

A novel family of alkyl-substituted S,N-heteropentacenes SN5 4–6 with a systematic variation of the alkyl side chains from methyl to hexyl is presented. The parent heteroacene series 4 and the acceptor end-capped series 5 and 6 were synthesized and characterized with respect to their structure–property relationships. The dicyanovinyl (DCV) end-capped derivatives 6a–f were implemented as donors in vacuum-processed bulk-heterojunction solar cells with fullerene C60 as acceptor, their photovoltaic behaviour studied, and structure–device relationships discussed. The devices exhibited power conversion efficiencies (PCE) in the range of 4–6% and interestingly a correlation between the length of the alkyl side chains and the photovoltaic performance of the resulting devices was discovered: an odd–even effect with higher values for the even-numbered alkyl chains. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies on the active layer surfaces gave hints for the explanation of this effect.

Graphical abstract: Influence of alkyl chain length in S,N-heteropentacenes on the performance of organic solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Research Article
Submitted
28 Nov 2017
Accepted
26 Feb 2018
First published
26 Feb 2018

Mater. Chem. Front., 2018,2, 959-968

Influence of alkyl chain length in S,N-heteropentacenes on the performance of organic solar cells

T. D. Leitner, A. Vogt, D. Popović, E. Mena-Osteritz, K. Walzer, M. Pfeiffer and P. Bäuerle, Mater. Chem. Front., 2018, 2, 959 DOI: 10.1039/C7QM00542C

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