Electric field dependent photocurrent generation in a thin-film organic photovoltaic device with a [70]fullerene–benzodifuranone dyad

Abstract

A [70]fullerene–benzodifuranone acceptor dyad synthesized by a Ag⁺-mediated coupling reaction was used to construct a thin-film organic solar cell. The fullerene and the benzodifuranone dye in the dyad have close-lying LUMO levels in the range of 3.7–3.9 eV, so that energy transfer from the dye to the fullerene can take place. A p–n heterojunction photovoltaic device consisting of a tetrabenzoporphyrin and a [70]fullerene–benzodifuranone dyad showed a weak but discernible contribution from light absorption of the dyad to the photocurrent under both a positive and a negative effective bias. These results indicate that the benzodifuranone moiety attached to the acceptor contributes to light-harvesting by energy transfer.