Non-Fullerene Electron Acceptors Based on Hybridisation of Corannulene and Thiophene-S,S-Dioxide Motifs.

Herein we show that hybridisation of buckybowl corannulene and thiophene-S,S-dioxide motifs is a general approach for the preparation of high electron affinity molecular materials. The devised synthesis is modular and relies on thienannulation of corannnulene-based phenylacetylene scaffolds. The final compounds are highly soluble in common organic solvents. These compounds also exhibit interesting optical properties such as absorption and emission in the blue/green regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. Importantly, a bis-S,S-dioxide derivative exhibits three reversible reductions similar in their strength to the prevalent fullerene-based electron acceptor phenyl-C61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC61 BM).

Exploring the Optoelectronic Properties of D-A and A-D-A 2,2'-bi[3,2-b]thienothiophene Derivatives.

The synthesis of some novel donor-acceptor and acceptor-donor-acceptor systems containing a 2,2'-bi[3,2-b]thienothiophene donor block and various electron-accepting units is described alongside their photophysical properties studied using electrochemistry, optical spectroscopy and theoretical calculations. The obtained results show that the energy levels can be modulated by changing the strength of the acceptor unit. Among the three investigated end-groups, 1,1-dicyanomethylene-3-indanone exhibited the largest bathochromic shift and the lowest band gap suggesting the strongest electron-withdrawing character. Moreover, the emissive properties of the investigated systems vary greatly with the nature of the terminal group and are generally lower compared to their precursor aldehyde derivatives.

Effect of the Terminal Acceptor Unit on the Performance of Non-Fullerene Indacenodithiophene Acceptors in Organic Solar Cells.

Four acceptor-donor-acceptor (A-D-A)-type molecules bearing indacenodithiophene as donating central core and various end-capping acceptor units have been designed and synthesised as n-type materials suitable for organic solar cells (OSCs). The studied optical and electrochemical properties supported by theoretical calculations revealed that the nature and the strength of the terminal groups exert a decisive influence on the polymer bulk-heterojunction OSC performance.