Conjugated polymer based on oligobenzo[c]thiophene with low-lying HOMO energy level as potential donor for bulk heterojunction solar cells

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Abstract After the discovery of photoinduced charge transfer in conjugated polymers, organic photovoltaic solar cells have been extensively studied due to many advantages that include flexibility and low-cost. In this context, we have synthesized a new class of conjugated polymer, poly(2-(4-{1-cyano-2-[5-(3-thiophen-2-yl-benzo[c]thiophen-1-yl)-thiophen-2-yl]-vinyl}-2,5-bis-hexyloxy-phenyl)-but-2-enenitrile) (CN-PTBTBPB) for the fabrication of low cost organic solar cells. The electron donor properties of CN-PTBTBPB polymer was incorporated by means of facile Knoevenagel condensation process followed by a chemical oxidative polymerization method using oligo-5-(1-benzo[c]thiophen-3-yl)thiophene-2-carboxaldehyde with 1,4-bis(cyanomethyl) benzene linkages. The polymer was characterized by 1 H NMR and GPC techniques. The electronic and structural properties of the polymer were evaluated by UV–vis spectroscopy, fluorescence spectroscopy, and thermo gravimetric analysis. In order to establish the energy diagram of the prepared polymer, the energy gap between HOMO–LUMO was evaluated using electrochemical measurements and Density Functional Theory (DFT). The resulting CN-PTBTBPB polymer was experimentally found to possess low-lying HOMO (about −5.84 eV) and high-lying LUMO (about −3.87 eV) energy levels. This polymer exhibited a relatively wide optical band gap of ~1.95 eV in the solid state. Using this polymer, organic photovoltaic cells were fabricated in open air of type ITO/PEDOT:PSS/CN-PTBTBPB:PCBM/Al showed promising photovoltaic properties.