Highly twisted ladder-type backbone bearing perylene diimides for non-fullerene acceptors in organic solar cells. (February 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cheng, Jiarun; Li, Bing; Ren, Xiaojie; Liu, Feng; Zhao, Hongchi; Wang, Haijun; Wu, Yonggang; Chen, Weiping; Ba, Xinwu
• Is Part Of: Dyes and pigments. Volume 161(2019)
• Page Start: 221
• Page End: 226
• Publication Date: 2019-02
• Subjects: Organic solar cells -- Non-fullerene acceptors -- Perylene diimide -- Ladder-type molecules; Dyes and dyeing -- Periodicals; Pigments -- Periodicals; 667.2
• DOI: 10.1016/j.dyepig.2018.09.042
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0143-7208

Abstract

Abstract: A ladder-type π-system PDIPY that bearing perylene diimide and pyrene units have been developed for constructing non-fullerene acceptors. The vinyl bridged PDIPY dimerPDIPY-V and polymerPPDIPY-V have been synthesized via bromonation and Stille coupling recation.PDIPY-V andPPDIPY-V exhibit intense and broad absorption within 400–650 nm that complement the absorption spectra of the narrow bandgap polymeric donors. DFT calculation indicated thatPDIPY-V andPPDIPY-V hold highly twisted structure, which prevent the formation of π−π stacking and crystallization in the aggregated states. The grazing-incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigations confirmed the amorphous nature of the pure films and thePDIPY-V /PPDIPY-V :PTB7-Th blend films. ThePDIPY-V :PTB7-Th based photovoltaic device showed a poor performance due to the small LUMO offset of donor and acceptor. While thePPDIPY-V :PTB7-Th based device showed a high PCE of 5.20%, indicating thePDIPY derivatives are promising non-fullerene acceptors for polymer solar cells. Highlights: Ring-fused ladder-type non-fullerene acceptors were synthesized. The highly twisted structure prevent excessive aggregation of the acceptors. The acceptors covered a broad absorption region from 400 nm to 650 nm. The non-fullerene solar cells achieved a high PCE of 5.20%.