Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

Weichao Chen; Gongyue Huang; Xiaoming Li; Yonghai Li; Huan Wang; Huanxiang Jiang; Zhihui Zhao; Donghong Yu; Ergang Wang; Renqiang Yang

doi:10.1021/acsami.9b07112

Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

Weichao Chen, Gongyue Huang, Xiaoming Li, Yonghai Li, Huan Wang, Huanxiang Jiang, Zhihui Zhao^*, Donghong Yu^*, Ergang Wang^*, Renqiang Yang^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

68 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In this work, position effects of an alkylthio side chain were investigated by designing and synthesizing two copolymers based on a phenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTP) and difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ). The polymer based on the meta-position-alkylthiolated BDTP, named m-PBDTPS-FTAZ, showed a relatively broader bandgap (2.00 vs 1.96 eV) and lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (-5.40 vs-5.32 eV) than its para-positioned structural isomeric analogue polymer (named p-PBDTPS-FTAZ), that is, m- A nd p-PBDTPS-FTAZ with the side chain structured as ethylhexyl-in the phenyl unit and hexyldecyl-in the FTAZ moiety. When blended with ITIC, m-PBDTPS-FTAZ showed a comparable crystallinity but more uniform morphology compared to that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ. A high power conversion efficiency of 13.16% was achieved for m-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices with a high open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 0.95 V, which is higher than that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices (10.86%) with a V_OC of 0.89 V. Therefore, m-BDTPS could be an effective donor unit to construct high-efficiency polymers due to its effectively decreased HOMO energy level of polymers while still maintaining good molecular stacking.

Original language	English
Journal	ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Volume	11
Issue number	36
Pages (from-to)	33173-33178
Number of pages	6
ISSN	1944-8244
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b07112
Publication status	Published - 11 Sept 2019

Keywords

broad bandgap
conjugated polymers
polymer solar cells
position effects
side chains

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10.1021/acsami.9b07112

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Chen, W., Huang, G., Li, X., Li, Y., Wang, H., Jiang, H., Zhao, Z., Yu, D., Wang, E., & Yang, R. (2019). Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 11(36), 33173-33178. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b07112

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title = "Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells",

abstract = "In this work, position effects of an alkylthio side chain were investigated by designing and synthesizing two copolymers based on a phenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTP) and difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ). The polymer based on the meta-position-alkylthiolated BDTP, named m-PBDTPS-FTAZ, showed a relatively broader bandgap (2.00 vs 1.96 eV) and lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (-5.40 vs-5.32 eV) than its para-positioned structural isomeric analogue polymer (named p-PBDTPS-FTAZ), that is, m- A nd p-PBDTPS-FTAZ with the side chain structured as ethylhexyl-in the phenyl unit and hexyldecyl-in the FTAZ moiety. When blended with ITIC, m-PBDTPS-FTAZ showed a comparable crystallinity but more uniform morphology compared to that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ. A high power conversion efficiency of 13.16% was achieved for m-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices with a high open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.95 V, which is higher than that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices (10.86%) with a VOC of 0.89 V. Therefore, m-BDTPS could be an effective donor unit to construct high-efficiency polymers due to its effectively decreased HOMO energy level of polymers while still maintaining good molecular stacking.",

keywords = "broad bandgap, conjugated polymers, polymer solar cells, position effects, side chains",

author = "Weichao Chen and Gongyue Huang and Xiaoming Li and Yonghai Li and Huan Wang and Huanxiang Jiang and Zhihui Zhao and Donghong Yu and Ergang Wang and Renqiang Yang",

year = "2019",

month = sep,

day = "11",

doi = "10.1021/acsami.9b07112",

language = "English",

volume = "11",

pages = "33173--33178",

journal = "ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces",

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Chen, W, Huang, G, Li, X, Li, Y, Wang, H, Jiang, H, Zhao, Z, Yu, D, Wang, E & Yang, R 2019, 'Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells', ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, vol. 11, no. 36, pp. 33173-33178. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.9b07112

Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells. / Chen, Weichao; Huang, Gongyue; Li, Xiaoming et al.
In: ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, Vol. 11, No. 36, 11.09.2019, p. 33173-33178.

Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review

TY - JOUR

T1 - Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

AU - Chen, Weichao

AU - Huang, Gongyue

AU - Li, Xiaoming

AU - Li, Yonghai

AU - Wang, Huan

AU - Jiang, Huanxiang

AU - Zhao, Zhihui

AU - Yu, Donghong

AU - Wang, Ergang

AU - Yang, Renqiang

PY - 2019/9/11

Y1 - 2019/9/11

N2 - In this work, position effects of an alkylthio side chain were investigated by designing and synthesizing two copolymers based on a phenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTP) and difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ). The polymer based on the meta-position-alkylthiolated BDTP, named m-PBDTPS-FTAZ, showed a relatively broader bandgap (2.00 vs 1.96 eV) and lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (-5.40 vs-5.32 eV) than its para-positioned structural isomeric analogue polymer (named p-PBDTPS-FTAZ), that is, m- A nd p-PBDTPS-FTAZ with the side chain structured as ethylhexyl-in the phenyl unit and hexyldecyl-in the FTAZ moiety. When blended with ITIC, m-PBDTPS-FTAZ showed a comparable crystallinity but more uniform morphology compared to that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ. A high power conversion efficiency of 13.16% was achieved for m-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices with a high open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.95 V, which is higher than that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices (10.86%) with a VOC of 0.89 V. Therefore, m-BDTPS could be an effective donor unit to construct high-efficiency polymers due to its effectively decreased HOMO energy level of polymers while still maintaining good molecular stacking.

AB - In this work, position effects of an alkylthio side chain were investigated by designing and synthesizing two copolymers based on a phenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDTP) and difluorobenzotriazole (FTAZ). The polymer based on the meta-position-alkylthiolated BDTP, named m-PBDTPS-FTAZ, showed a relatively broader bandgap (2.00 vs 1.96 eV) and lower highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level (-5.40 vs-5.32 eV) than its para-positioned structural isomeric analogue polymer (named p-PBDTPS-FTAZ), that is, m- A nd p-PBDTPS-FTAZ with the side chain structured as ethylhexyl-in the phenyl unit and hexyldecyl-in the FTAZ moiety. When blended with ITIC, m-PBDTPS-FTAZ showed a comparable crystallinity but more uniform morphology compared to that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ. A high power conversion efficiency of 13.16% was achieved for m-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices with a high open circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.95 V, which is higher than that of p-PBDTPS-FTAZ:ITIC devices (10.86%) with a VOC of 0.89 V. Therefore, m-BDTPS could be an effective donor unit to construct high-efficiency polymers due to its effectively decreased HOMO energy level of polymers while still maintaining good molecular stacking.

KW - broad bandgap

KW - conjugated polymers

KW - polymer solar cells

KW - position effects

KW - side chains

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U2 - 10.1021/acsami.9b07112

DO - 10.1021/acsami.9b07112

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 31405281

AN - SCOPUS:85072056625

SN - 1944-8244

VL - 11

SP - 33173

EP - 33178

JO - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

JF - ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces

IS - 36

ER -

Revealing the Position Effect of an Alkylthio Side Chain in Phenyl-Substituted Benzodithiophene-Based Donor Polymers on the Photovoltaic Performance of Non-Fullerene Organic Solar Cells

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