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Impact of linker positions for thieno[3,2-b]thiophene in wide band gap benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-based photovoltaic polymers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2019

Mingjing Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Intelligent Control of Ministry Education, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
Xiaofang Zhang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Intelligent Control of Ministry Education, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
Pengzhi Guo
Affiliation:
National Green Coating Technology and Equipment Research Center, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
Jie Lv
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Intelligent Control of Ministry Education, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
Xunchang Wang
Affiliation:
CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China
Junfeng Tong*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Intelligent Control of Ministry Education, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
Yangjun Xia*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Optoelectronic Technology and Intelligent Control of Ministry Education, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China; and School of Materials Science and Engineering, Lanzhou Jiaotong University, Lanzhou 730070, People’s Republic of China
*
a)Address all correspondence to these authors. e-mail: [email protected]
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Abstract

Two wide band gap conjugated polymers, namely PBDT-TT25 and PBDT-TT36, derived from (4,8-bis(4,5-dioctyl-thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl)bis(trimethylstannane) with 2,5-dibromothieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT25) or 3,6-dibromothieno[3,2-b]thiophene (TT36), have been synthesized by simply altering the linker positions of thieno[3,2-b]thiophene unit. The impact of linker positions on the energy levels, aggregation, active layer morphology, and optical and photovoltaic properties was evaluated systemically. We found that the absorption was greatly broadened, and the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level was elevated as the result of the significantly reduced twist angle on the polymer backbone when the linker positions changed from 3,6-isomer to 2,5-isomer. Therefore, the optimal inverted polymer solar cells exhibited a 1.87 times enhancement in power conversion efficiencies (PCE), which was mainly ascribed to the higher short circuit current densities (JSC) and fill factor (FF) of the devices mainly benefited from the widened, stronger absorption, higher hole mobility, and more ordered structure.

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Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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