Perylene Diimide Based Isomeric Conjugated Polymers as Efficient Electron Acceptors for All-polymer Solar Cells

We present here a series of perylene diimide(PDI)based isomeric conjugated polymers for the application as efficient electron acceptors in all-polymer solar cells(all-PSCs).By copolymerizing PDI monomers with 1,4-diethynylbenzene(para-linkage)and 1,3-diethynylbenzene(meta-linkage),isomeric PDI based conjugated polymers with parallel and non-parallel PDI units inside backbones were obtained.It was found that para-linked conjugated polymer(PA)showed better solubility,strongerπ-πstacking,more favorable blend morphology,and better photovoltaic performance than those of meta-linked conjugated polymers(PM)did.Device based on PTB7-Th:PA(PTB7-Th:poly{4,8-bis[5-(2-ethylhexyl)-thiophen-2-yl]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl-alt-3-fluoro-2-[(2-ethylhexyl)-carbonyl]thieno[3,4-b]thiophene-4,6-diyl})showed significantly enhanced photovoltaic performance than that of PTB7-Th:MA(3.29%versus 0.92%).Moreover,the photovoltaic performance of these polymeric acceptors could be further improved via a terpolymeric strategy.By copolymerizing a small amount of meta-linkages into PA,the optimized terpolymeric acceptors enabled to enhance photovoltaic performance with improved the short-circuit current density(Jsc)and fill factor(FF),resulting in an improved power conversion efficiency(PCE)of 4.03%.

A Near-infrared Non-fullerene Acceptor with Thienopyrrole-expanded Benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene Core for Polymer Solar Cells

A near-infrared non-fullerene acceptor(NFA) BDTIC, based on thienopyrrole-expanded benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene unit(heptacyclic S,N-heteroacene) as core, is designed and synthesized. The aromatic pyrrole ring with strong electron-donating ability in the core enhances the intramolecular charge transfer effect, finely tunes the optical bandgap and absorption profile of BDTIC, and thus results in a narrowed optical bandgap(E_(g)^(opt)) of 1.38 eV and a near-infrared absorption to 900 nm. When BDTIC is paired with donor polymer PBDB-T to fabricate organic solar cells, the optimized device achieves a best power conversion efficiency of 12.1% with a short-circuit current density of 20.0 mA·cm^(-2) and an open-circuit voltage of 0.88 V. The photovoltaic performance benefits from the broad absorption, weak bimolecular recombination, efficient charge separation and collection, and favorable blend morphology. This work demonstrates that thienopyrroleexpanded benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene unit(heptacyclic S,N-heteroacene) is a promising building unit to construct high-performance NFAs by enhancing the intramolecular charge transfer effect, broadening absorption as well as maintaining good intermolecular stacking property.