TY - JOUR
T1 - 1,4-Di(3-alkoxy-2-thienyl)-2,5-difluorophenylene
T2 - A Building Block Enabling High-Performance Polymer Semiconductors with Increased Open-Circuit Voltages
AU - Chen, Jianhua
AU - Yan, Zhenglong
AU - Tang, Linjing
AU - Uddin, Mohammad Afsar
AU - Yu, Jianwei
AU - Zhou, Xin
AU - Yang, Kun
AU - Tang, Yumin
AU - Shin, Tae Joo
AU - Woo, Han Young
AU - Guo, Xugang
N1 - Funding Information:
X.G. thanks National Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 21774055), Shenzhen Peacock Plan project (KQTD20140630110339343), Basic Research Fund of Shenzhen City (JCYJ20160530185244662), and the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (2015A030313900). J.C. acknowledges Basic Research Fund of Shenzhen City (JCYJ20170817104319061) and the SUSTC Presidential Postdoctoral Fellowship. M.A.U. and H.Y.W. are grateful for the financial support from the NRF of Korea (2016M1A2A2940911 and 20100020209).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 American Chemical Society.
PY - 2018/7/24
Y1 - 2018/7/24
N2 - A new building block, 1,4-di(3-alkoxy-2-thienyl)-2,5-difluorophenylene (DOTFP) with several desirable features such as high backbone planarity, suitably lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), and good solubility, was developed by inserting an electron-deficient difluorophenylene into the 3,3′-dialkoxy-2,2′-bithiophene (BTOR) unit. Three regioregular D-A1-D-A2 type polymers based on DOTFP and benzothiadiazole (BT) derivatives were synthesized and characterized by comparing with a D-A type BTOR-based polymer. The content of highly electron-rich alkoxythiophene is reduced by half in the DOTFP-based polymers versus that of the BTOR-based polymer analogue, which results in a deeper HOMO level and benefits high open-circuit voltage (Voc) in polymer solar cells (PSCs). Consequently, the DOTFP-ffBT-based solar cells exhibited a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.7% and an increased Voc of 0.84 V compared to the BTOR-ffBT-based solar cells with a PCE of 2.6% and a Voc of 0.49 V. Additionally, the DOTFP-based polymers showed improved charge transport properties and film morphology than the BTOR-based polymer BTOR-ffBT, resulting in simultaneous enhancement of the short-circuit current (Jsc) and fill factor (FF) in PSCs. These results demonstrate the great promise of the DOTFP building block for the construction of high-performance photovoltaic polymer semiconductors with increased Vocs.
AB - A new building block, 1,4-di(3-alkoxy-2-thienyl)-2,5-difluorophenylene (DOTFP) with several desirable features such as high backbone planarity, suitably lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO), and good solubility, was developed by inserting an electron-deficient difluorophenylene into the 3,3′-dialkoxy-2,2′-bithiophene (BTOR) unit. Three regioregular D-A1-D-A2 type polymers based on DOTFP and benzothiadiazole (BT) derivatives were synthesized and characterized by comparing with a D-A type BTOR-based polymer. The content of highly electron-rich alkoxythiophene is reduced by half in the DOTFP-based polymers versus that of the BTOR-based polymer analogue, which results in a deeper HOMO level and benefits high open-circuit voltage (Voc) in polymer solar cells (PSCs). Consequently, the DOTFP-ffBT-based solar cells exhibited a significantly improved power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.7% and an increased Voc of 0.84 V compared to the BTOR-ffBT-based solar cells with a PCE of 2.6% and a Voc of 0.49 V. Additionally, the DOTFP-based polymers showed improved charge transport properties and film morphology than the BTOR-based polymer BTOR-ffBT, resulting in simultaneous enhancement of the short-circuit current (Jsc) and fill factor (FF) in PSCs. These results demonstrate the great promise of the DOTFP building block for the construction of high-performance photovoltaic polymer semiconductors with increased Vocs.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85050668834&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b00975
DO - 10.1021/acs.macromol.8b00975
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85050668834
SN - 0024-9297
VL - 51
SP - 5352
EP - 5363
JO - Macromolecules
JF - Macromolecules
IS - 14
ER -