Issue 96, 2014

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of new donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers based on benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b′′] trithiophene donor and different acceptor units (P1 and P2)

Abstract

Two new conjugated D–A copolymers P1 (PBTT-TQ) and P2 (PBTT-TPz) based on the same benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b′′] trithiophene (BTT) donor and different acceptor monomers 4,9-bis(5-bromithiophen-2-yl)-6,7-bis(2-ethylhexyl)[1,2,5] thiadiazolo[3,4-g] quinoxaline (TQ) and 5,7-bis(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-2,3-bis(5-octylthiophen-2-yl) thieno[3,4-b] pyrazine (TPy), respectively, were synthesized by Stille cross-coupling reaction and characterized by gel permeation chromatography (GPC), 1H NMR, UV-Vis absorption, thermal analysis and electrochemical cyclic voltammetry (CV) tests. The optical bandgaps of P1 and P2 measured from the onset of optical absorption of these copolymers in thin films were 1.14 eV and 1.38 eV, respectively. Photovoltaic properties of the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) devices were studied using P1 and P2 as the donor and PC61BM or PC71BM as the acceptor with weight ratios of polymer : PC61BM of 1 : 1, 1 : 2 and 1 : 3. The optimized photovoltaic devices fabricated with active blend layers of P1:PC71BM (1 : 2) and P2:PC71BM (1 : 2) cast from o-diclorobenzene (o-DCB) showed PCEs of 2.05% and 3.14%, respectively, whereas P2:PC61BM and P2:PC71BM yielded PCEs of 1.44% and 2.11%, respectively. The PCEs of BHJ solar cells based on P1:PC71BM and P2:PC71BM processed from 1-chloronapthanene (CN)/o-DCB solvent were further improved up to 5.28% and 2.6%, respectively.

Graphical abstract: Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of new donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers based on benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b′′] trithiophene donor and different acceptor units (P1 and P2)

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
21 Jun 2014
Accepted
07 Oct 2014
First published
10 Oct 2014

RSC Adv., 2014,4, 53531-53542

Author version available

Synthesis and photovoltaic properties of new donor–acceptor (D–A) copolymers based on benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b′:6,5-b′′] trithiophene donor and different acceptor units (P1 and P2)

M. L. Keshtov, Y. Deng, Z. Xie, Y. Geng, S. A. Kuklin, V. S. Kochurov, A. R. Khokhlov, E. N. Koukaras and G. D. Sharma, RSC Adv., 2014, 4, 53531 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA05680A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements