Novel Pyrrolo [3,4-b] Dithieno [3, 2-f:2″,3″-h] Quinoxaline-8,10 (9H)-Dione Based Wide Bandgap Conjugated Copolymers for Bulk Heterojunction Polymer Solar Cells.

Two D-A copolymers consisting of fused ring pyrrolo-dithieno-quinoxaline acceptors are synthesized with different donor units, i.e., benzodithiophene (BDT) with alkylthienyl (P134) and 2-ethylhexyloxy (P117) side chains. These copolymers are used as donors and a narrow bandgap acceptor Y6 to fabricate bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell devices. Owing to the strong electron-deficient fused ring pyrrolo-bithieno-quinoxaline and weak alkyl thienyl side chains in BDT, the polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on P134:Y6 attain the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 15.42%, which is higher than the P117:Y6 counterpart (12.14%). The superior value of PCE for P134:Y6 can be associated with more well-adjusted charge transport, weak charge recombination, proficient exciton generation, and dissociation into free charge carriers and their subsequent charge collection owing to the dense π-π stacking distance and more considerable crystal coherence length for the P134:Y6 thin films. This investigation confirms the great potential of a strong acceptor-weak donor tactic for developing efficient D-A copolymers consists of quinoxaline acceptor for PSCs.

New Medium Bandgap Donor D-A1 -D-A2 Type Copolymers Based on Anthra[1,2-b: 4,3-b":6,7-c"'] Trithiophene-8,12-dione Groups for High-Efficient Non-Fullerene Polymer Solar Cells.

A new acceptor unit anthra[1,2-b: 4,3-b': 6,7-c'']trithiophene-8,12-dione (А3Т) (A2) is synthesized and used to design D-A1 -D-A2 medium bandgap donor copolymers with same thiophene (D) and A2 units but different A1, i.e., fluorinated benzothiadiazole (F-BTz) and benzothiadiazole (BTz) denoted as P130 and P131, respectively. Their detailed optical and electrochemical properties are examined. The copolymers show good solubility in common organic solvents, broad absorption in the visible spectral region from 300 to 700 nm, and deeper HOMO levels of -5.45 and -5.34 eV for P130 and P131, respectively. Finally, an optimized polymer solar cell (PSC) based on P131 as the donor and narrow bandgap non-fullerene small molecule acceptor Y6 demonstrated a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of >11.13%. To further improve the efficiency of the non-fullerene PSC, the P130 is optimized by introducing a fluorine atom into the BTz unit, F-BTz acceptor unit, and PCE PSC based on P130: Y6 active layer increased to >15.28%, which is higher than that for the non-fluorinated analog P131:Y6. The increase in the PCE for former PSC is attributed to the more crystalline nature and compact π-π stacking distance, leading to more balanced charge transport and reduced charge recombination. These remarkable results demonstrate that A3T-based copolymer P130 with F-BTz as the second acceptor is a promising donor material for high-performance PSCs.