A Series of Squaraine Dyes: Effects of Side Chain and the Number of Hydroxyl Groups on Material Properties and Photovoltaic Performance

Abstract

Squaraine dyes are considered an important group of photoactive materials in the field of organic photovoltaic devices. In this work, we purposely tuned the side chains and number of hydroxyl (OH) groups in a series of squaraine (SQ) dyes, i.e., SQ1–4, to investigate the effect of structural variations on the material properties as well as the performance of these dyes as donor materials in bulk heterojunction (BHJ) photovoltaic cells. The material structure and properties of these SQs were systematically characterized using various tools. Solution-processed BHJ photovoltaic cells based on these SQ compounds combined with [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) as an acceptor gave efficient power conversion efficiencies greater than 4.0% under AM 1.5G solar illumination at 100 mW/cm2. Our observations show that the OH groups deepened the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) of the donor and thus enhanced the open-circuit voltage, whereas the linear chain improved the charge transport prop...