Synthesis and characterization of cyclopentadithiophene-based low bandgap copolymers containing electron-deficient benzoselenadiazole derivatives for photovoltaic devices

We have synthesized two cyclopentadithiophene (CDT)-based low bandgap copolymers, poly[(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b′] dithiophene-2,6-diyl)-alt-(benzo[c] [1,2,5]selenadiazole-4,7-diyl)] (PCBSe) and poly[(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-0:3,4-b′]dithiophene-2, 6-diyl)-alt-(4,7dithiophen-2-yl-benzo[c][1,2,5]selenadiazole-5,5'-diyl)] (PCT2BSe), for use in photovoltaic applications. Through the internal charge transfer interaction between the electron-donating CDT unit and the electron-accepting benzoselenadiazole, we realized exceedingly low bandgap polymers with bandgaps of 1.37-1.46 eV, The UV-vis absorption maxima of PCT2BSe were subjected to larger hypsochromic shifts than those of PCBSe, because of the distorted electron donor-acceptor (D-A) structures of the PCT2BSe backbone, These results were supported by the calculations of the D-A complex using the ab initio Hartree-Fock method with a splitvalence 6-31 G* basis set. However, PCT2BSe exhibited a better molar absorption coefficient in the visible region, which can lead to more efficient absorption of sunlight. As a result, PCT2BSe blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C₆₁-butyric acid methyl ester (PC₆₁BM) exhibited a better photovoltaic performance than PCBSe because of the larger spectral overlap integral with respect to the solar spectrum. Furthermore, when the polymers were blended with PC₇₁BM, PCT2BSe showed the best performance, with an open circuit voltage of 0.55 V, a short-circuit current of 6.63 mA/cm², and a power conversion efficiency of 1.34% under air mass 1.5 global illumination conditions.