Synthesis and characterization of novel benzodithiophene-fused perylene diimide acceptors: Regulate photovoltaic performance via structural isomerism

Abstract

Two isomeric benzodithiophene-fused perylene diimides, BPDI-1 and BPDI-2, are designed and synthesized via photo-induced ring-closure reaction between perylene diimide (PDI) acceptor and both isomeric benzodithiophene donor cores, including benzo[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene (BDP) and benzo[1,2-b:4,3-b']dithiophene (BdT). The effect of structural isomerism on the molecular geometry, absorption, energy level, film morphology as well as photovoltaic performance is comparatively studied. It is found that the variation of the S atom substituted position in the donor cores results in distinct molecular geometries for the newly-developed BPDI-1 and BPDI-2 acceptors. Compared with BDP-containing BPDI-1, the incorporation of BdT core endows BPDI-2 with a remarkably enhanced backbone distortion. When blended with the commercially available polymer donor (PTB7-Th), such twisted structure feature for the BPDI-2 acceptor plays a key role in reducing molecule aggregation, which is helpful for the enhancements of short-circuit current density and photovoltaic efficiency effectively. As a result, non-fullerene solar cells fabricated from BPDI-2 acceptor achieve higher photovoltaic efficiency (4.44%) than that of BPDI-1 (2.98%), mainly benefited from superior short-circuit current density. This work provides us comparative understanding of isomeric geometry and device performance.