Fused Nonacyclic Electron Acceptors for Efficient Polymer Solar Cells

J Am Chem Soc. 2017 Jan 25;139(3):1336-1343. doi: 10.1021/jacs.6b12755. Epub 2017 Jan 13.

Abstract

We design and synthesize four fused-ring electron acceptors based on 6,6,12,12-tetrakis(4-hexylphenyl)-indacenobis(dithieno[3,2-b;2',3'-d]thiophene) as the electron-rich unit and 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanones with 0-2 fluorine substituents as the electron-deficient units. These four molecules exhibit broad (550-850 nm) and strong absorption with high extinction coefficients of (2.1-2.5) × 105 M-1 cm-1. Fluorine substitution downshifts the LUMO energy level, red-shifts the absorption spectrum, and enhances electron mobility. The polymer solar cells based on the fluorinated electron acceptors exhibit power conversion efficiencies as high as 11.5%, much higher than that of their nonfluorinated counterpart (7.7%). We investigate the effects of the fluorine atom number and position on electronic properties, charge transport, film morphology, and photovoltaic properties.

Publication types

  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't