Two random copolymers based on the (2,5-difluorophenylene)dithiophene and dialkoxybenzothiadiazole with benzodithiophene (P1) or thiophene (P2) as third conjugated bridges having sulfur and fluorine (S···F) and/or oxygen (S···O) non-covalent intramolecular interaction are synthesized and characterized. In despite of molecular weight difference over three times between both polymers, P1 and P2 possess similar solubility in organic solvents and thermal stability (Td~320 o C), which means probably due to that P1 with bulky alkylthiophene substituted benzodithiophene as a third conjugated bridge has less non-covalent intramolecular interaction than that of P2 with thiophene as a bridge. Both polymers were used as electron donors in bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics (BHJ OPV) with PC71BM as an acceptor. From the photovoltaic measurements, it reveals that P2 shows higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) of up to 6.82% than that of P1 (2.44%). After 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO) treatments as a processing additive, the P1 and P2 devices show a significantly improved PCE of 5.95% for P1 and 7.71% for P2. The surface morphology analysis of the blend films using the atomic force microscope (AFM) reveals that P1:PC71BM film shows a macrophase separation, while the P2 film has a smooth morphology. After DIO treatment, morphology of both polymer blend films is improved with better bi-continuous nanosclae networks. Charge carrier mobilities through the space charge limited current (SCLC) method demonstrate that P2 with thiophene bridge has higher charge carrier mobilities than that of P1. In particular, inverted structured BHJ OPV with P2 exhibits a PCE of 8.50%, which is the highest PCE reported in the literature regarding random copolymers.
A new random terpolymer, coded LGC-D013, based on TPD as the acceptor and BDT and terthiophene as the donor units, has been synthesized and characterized for donor material in bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) organic photovoltaic (OPV) application.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.