Abstract
Bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells based on π-conjugated polymers as the p-type semiconductor (electron donor) have been intensively investigated in the last few decades since they can enable lightweight, flexible, semi-transparent, low-cost, and low-energy fabrication in contrast to the conventional silicon solar cells. While fullerene derivatives have been used as the n-type semiconductor (electron acceptor), which afford power conversion efficiencies of more than 10% when combined with a narrow-bandgap π-conjugated polymer, recently non-fullerene acceptors having low bandgap have been shown to provide even higher efficiencies over 18% when combined with a wide-bandgap π-conjugated polymer. A key to improving the power conversion efficiency is to control the polymer order as well as the morphology (phase separation) that determines the charge separation and charge transport processes. Therefore, careful molecular design of π-conjugated polymers to manage the backbone coplanarity and intermolecular interactions is imperative. We have been studying a number of π-conjugated polymers by incorporating various heteroaromatics into the polymer backbone. In this presentation, I will show the design and synthesis of new π-conjugated polymers and discuss how the molecular structure affects the polymer order in the thin film and thereby OPV performances.
Published Version
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