Benzimidazole‐indole‐chalcone connected methacrylate‐based side chain D‐π‐A polymer and its application in organic photovoltaics. Issue 6 (3rd February 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Selvam, Ramasamy; Subramanian, Kathavarayan
• Is Part Of: Journal of polymer science. Volume 55:Issue 6(2017)
• Page Start: 997
• Page End: 1007
• Publication Date: 2017-02-03
• Subjects: chalcone -- charge transfer -- donor–acceptor systems -- DSSC -- indole -- pendant chromophore -- poly(methacrylate) -- radical polymerization -- thermal properties; 547
• DOI: 10.1002/pola.28460
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0887-624X

Abstract

ABSTRACT: Herein, we report four metal‐free organic polymethacrylates(In‐In‐BzI)PMA, (Ac‐In‐BzI)PMA, (TPA‐In‐BzI)PMA, and(Py‐In‐BzI)PMA with pendant chromophores donor‐π‐conjugated‐acceptor (D‐π‐A) molecular framework as photosensitizers for dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In which the donor‐acceptor units are attached by an indole‐chalcone extending side chain to inhibit back electron transfer and charge recombination; the π‐linker component contains varied chalcone‐based substituents to enhance the sunlight‐harvesting ability of the solar device. Photon‐current cells based on the DSSC format were fabricated using the polymers as sensitizers. The DSSC device assembled using(TPA‐In‐BzI)PMA exhibits a considerably better IPCE peak and J – V response, with an overall power conversion efficiency of 3.70% under the illumination of AM 1.5G (100 mW cm –2 ). © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem.2017, 55, 997–1007 Abstract : Four novel polymethacrylates (In‐In‐BzI)PMA, (Ac‐In‐BzI)PMA, (TPA‐In‐BzI)PMA and (Py‐In‐BzI)PMA were synthesized via free radical polymerization and characterized. The effects of (pendant chromophores) benzimidazole‐indole‐chalcone linkages on the optoelectronic properties were investigated. A highest power conversion efficiency of 3.70% for (TPA‐In‐BzI)PMA based device was achieved. Our work suggests that benzimidazole‐indole‐chalcone can be a promising push‐pull building block for the designing D—π—A type of side‐chain polymer‐sensitizers.