Imide‐functionalized naphthodithiophene based donor‐acceptor conjugated polymers for solar cells. Issue 18 (22nd June 2013)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Dutta, Tanmoy; Li, Yong; Thornton, Aaron L.; Zhu, Da‐Ming; Peng, Zhonghua
• Is Part Of: Journal of polymer science. Volume 51:Issue 18(2013:Sep.)
• Page Start: 3818
• Page End: 3828
• Publication Date: 2013-06-22
• Subjects: 547
• DOI: 10.1002/pola.26799
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-624X

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title>ABSTRACT</title> <p>Donor‐acceptor conjugated polymers containing a new imide‐functionalized naphthodithiophene (INDT) as the acceptor unit and a 2, 2'‐bithiophene with varied substituents as the donor unit have been synthesized. The bandgaps of these polymers depend strongly on the dihedral angle of the 2, 2'‐bithiophene unit. The 3, 3'‐dialkoxy substitution (polymers <bold>PDOR</bold>/<bold>PBOR</bold>) leads to near planar bithiophene conformation due to the well‐known S–O short contact, while the 3, 3'‐dialkyl substitution (polymer <bold>PDR</bold>) results in significant twisting due to the steric effect. Consequently <bold>PDOR</bold>/<bold>PBOR</bold> shows the lowest bandgap of 1.82/1.85 eV while <bold>PDR</bold> has a bandgap of 2.38 eV. Bulk‐heterojunction solar cells of the polymer/fullerene blends have been fabricated. Preliminary results show that <bold>PBOR</bold> gives the best device performance with power conversion efficiencies as high as 2.45% in air without any thermal annealing treatment, indicating the promising potential of INDT‐containing conjugated polymers for efficient solar cells. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. <bold>2013</bold>, <italic>51</italic>, 3818–3828</p> </abstract>