Herein we report on the synthesis of an N-annulated perylene diimide (PDI) disubstituted thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) molecular acceptor (PDI-TPD-PDI) by direct heteroarylation (DHA) methods. Three sets of DHA conditions that explore the effects of solvent, temperature, and catalyst were employed to find the optimal conditions for the synthesis of two PDI-TPD-PDI derivatives. We then selected one PDI-TPD-PDI for use as a non-fullerene acceptor in organic solar cell devices with the donor polymer PBDB-T. Active layer bulk-heterojunction blends were modified using several post-deposition treatments, including thermal annealing, solvent vapour annealing, and high boiling solvent additives. It was found that active layers cast from o-dichlorobenzene with a 3% v/v diphenylether additive yielded films with adequate phase separation, and subsequently gave the best organic solar cell performance, with power conversion efficiencies greater than 3%.
Keywords: bulk heterojunction solar cells; direct heteroarylation; non-fullerene acceptors; organic dyes; perylene diimide; thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione.