Three
new donor–acceptor–acceptor′ (D–A–A′)-configured
molecules, DTCFiBT, DTCFoBT, and DTCF2BT, with F-substituted benzothiadiazole
(BT) as the A group, and two molecules, DTCPiTD and DTCPoTD, adopting
pyridal[2,1,3]-thiadiazole (PTD) as the A group, were synthesized
and characterized. The effects of the F-substitution number and the
orientation of mono F-substituted BT and PTD relative to the D group
on the physical properties and intermolecular interactions were examined,
together with theoretical calculations to establish the structure–property
relationship. In comparison to the parent molecule DTCPB, the inductive
effects of F-substituted BTs lower both highest occupied molecular
orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy
levels of DTCFiBT, DTCFoBT, and DTCF2BT and, thus, similar optical
energy gaps (E
g
opt), while
DTCPiTD and DTCPoTD exhibit much lower LUMO energy levels and reduced E
g
opt, ascribing to the electron-deficient
character of PTD. The strong dipolar features of the D–A–A′-configured
structure resulting in the antiparallel dimeric packing with different
intermolecular interactions in their crystal structures were observed
by X-ray analyses. Small-molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) with
a bulk heterojunction active layer comprising new D–A–A′
donors and C70 were fabricated and characterized. The deeper
LUMO levels and reduced E
g
opt benefit the DTCPiTD- and DTCPoTD-based devices to have higher short
current density (J
SC), while the DTCFiBT-,
DTCFoBT-, and DTCF2BT-based devices benefited from the lower HOMO
energy levels that lead to the higher open circuit voltage (V
OC). Transient photoluminescence, atomic force
microscopy, and incident-light-intensity-dependent device characteristics
were examined to reveal the recombination issue for the inferior DTCFoBT-based
device. Among these new donors, the DTCFiBT-based device shows the
best performance, with V
OC of 0.94, J
SC of 11.3 mA/cm2, fill factor (FF)
of 0.65, and power conversion efficiency of 6.8%, which are attributed
to the high V
OC as a result of the deeper
HOMO level and the superior FF as a result of good exciton separation
and charge carrier transport.