Synthesis and Photovoltaic Properties of 2D-Conjugated Polymers Based on Alkylthiothienyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene and Different Accepting Units

• Main Authors: Xunchang Wang, Chang Cheng, Yuda Li, Feng Wang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-03-01
• Series: Polymers
• Subjects: conjugated polymers; polymer solar cells; inverted structure; power conversion efficiency
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4360/10/3/331

Two new low bandgap conjugated polymers, PBDTS-ID and PBDTS-DTNT, containing isoindigo (ID) and naphtho[1,2-c:5,6-c′]bis[1,2,5]thiadiazole (NT), respectively, as an electron-deficient unit and alkylthiothienyl-substituted benzodithiophene (BDTS) as an electron-rich unit, were designed and synthesized by palladium-catalyzed Stille polycondensation. Both polymers showed good thermal stability up to 330 °C and broad absorption ranging from 300 to 842 nm. Electrochemical measurement revealed that PBDTS-ID and PBDTS-DTNT exhibited relatively low-lying highest occupied molecular orbital energy levels at −5.40 and −5.24 eV, respectively. These features might be beneficial for obtaining reasonable high open-circuit voltage and high short-circuit current. Polymer solar cells (PSCs) were fabricated with an inverted structure of indium-tin oxide/poly(ethylenimine ethoxylate)/polymer:PC71BM/MoO3/Ag. As a preliminary result, the PSCs based on PBDTS-ID and PBDTS-DTNT exhibited moderate power conversion efficiencies of 2.70% and 2.71%, respectively.