Issue 1, 2018

The effect of alkylthio side chains in oligothiophene-based donor materials for organic solar cells

Abstract

With respect to the molecular system of donor materials for organic solar cells (OSCs), the π-conjugated backbone is the most important component in determining their OSC-related physicochemical properties. On the other hand, selecting side chains is essential in designing photovoltaic materials, since side chains (especially alkylthio side chains) have a considerable effect, not only on enabling the solubility of materials for solution-processed device fabrication, but also on physicochemical properties, molecular packing and thus the OSC device performance. In this work, we introduce alkylthio side-chains in the molecular π-conjugated backbone to develop a new oligothiophene-based donor material (namely BDT-S-TRS) for OSCs. The theoretical calculations and molecular simulation with density functional theory (DFT) and cyclic voltammetry results reveal that BDTT-S-TRS showed a lower HOMO energy level than its alkyl side-chain counterpart. Especially, BDTTT-S-TRS has a linear backbone with better planarity. The OSC device based on BDT-S-TRS exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.07%, with a notable fill factor (FF) of 0.705.

Graphical abstract: The effect of alkylthio side chains in oligothiophene-based donor materials for organic solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 ago. 2017
Accepted
20 oct. 2017
First published
20 oct. 2017

Mol. Syst. Des. Eng., 2018,3, 131-141

The effect of alkylthio side chains in oligothiophene-based donor materials for organic solar cells

Y. Zou, Y. Wu, H. Yang, Y. Dong, C. Cui and Y. Li, Mol. Syst. Des. Eng., 2018, 3, 131 DOI: 10.1039/C7ME00075H

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