The present investigation deals with the synthesis, characterization, and EL properties of new polyfluorenevinylenes, CzCNPFVs, with cyano‐substituted vinylene unit and carbazole pendant. In CzCNPFVs, synthesized by the Knoevenagel condensation, the carbazole pendant was introduced to improve the efficiency of reported CNPFV. The PL emission spectra of the CzCNPFVs in chloroform solution show maximum peaks at 476–479 nm. In thin films, maximum peaks of the CzCNPFVs appeared at 501–504 nm, red‐shifted around 25 nm as compared to those in solution. The emission maxima of the EL spectra of the polymers appear at around 496–504 nm. The maximum luminescence (Lmax) of CzCNPFV2 of the device with the configuration of ITO/PEDOT/CzCNPFVs/Ca/Al is 1724 cd/m2 at 8 V. The maximum luminescence efficiency of CzCNPFV1 is 0.18 cd/A. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 47: 6540–6551, 2009

A new electron deficient unit, dimethyl‐2H‐benzimidazole (MBI), and dihydroindeno[2,1‐a]indene (ININE) moiety as electron‐rich unit were coupled to synthesize the conjugated polymers containing electron donor–acceptor pair for organic photovoltaics. ININE, MBI, and thiophene (or bithiophene) units were incorporated using Stille and Suzuki polymerization to generate poly(2,7‐(5,5,10,10‐tetrakis(2‐ethylhexyl)‐5,10‐dihydro‐ indeno[2,1‐a]indene)‐alt‐5,5‐(4′,7′‐di‐2‐thienyl‐2,2‐dimethyl‐2H‐benzimidazole)) (PININEDTMBIs) (or PININEBBTMBIs). In MBI, the sulfur at 2‐position of 2,1,3‐benzothiadiazole (BT) unit was replaced with dialkyl‐substituted carbon, whereas keeping the 1,2‐quinoid form, to improve the solubility of the polymers. The field‐effect hole mobility of PININEBBTMBI was 3.2 × 10−4 cm2/Vs which was improved as compared to that of PININEDTMBI (2.7 × 10−5 cm2/Vs) caused by the introduction of bithiophene units. In case of the most efficient polymer, PININEBBTMBI, the device with the configuration of indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4‐ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT):polystyrene sulfonate (PSS)/polymer:PC71BM(1:4 w/w)/Al, annealed at 100 °C for 10 min demonstrated a open circuit voltage of 0.78 V, a short‐circuit current density of 6.66 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.41, leading to the power conversion efficiency of 2.11%, under white‐light illumination (AM 1.5 G, 100 mW/cm2). © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2013

We report the small molecules utilizing new electron-deficient unit, 2,2-dimethyl-2H-benzimidazole (MBI) and phenanthro[9,10-c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (PT), for the photovoltaic application. Donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) types of conjugated small molecules containing benzo[1,2-b;3,4-b']dithiophene (BDT) as electron rich unit and MBI and PT as electron deficient units (SM1 and SM2) were synthesized. D-A-D type of small molecules has the abilities of increasing intramolecular charge transfer (ICT) inducing long wavelength absorption and lowering the HOMO level for the improvement of open-circuit voltage (V OC ). SM1 was synthesized by coupling BDT and PT units by Stille coupling reaction with Pd(0)-catalyst. By using same type of Pd(0)-catalized reaction, BDT unit and MBI unit linked with two thiophenes were coupled to provide SM2. The spectrum of SM2 in the solid thin film shows absorption band with maximum peak at 601 nm and the absorption onset at 756 nm, corresponding to band gap of 1.64 eV. The device comprising SM2 with PCBM (3:7) showed a V OC of 0.62 V, a J SC of 1.69 mA/cm 2 , and a fill factor (FF) of 0.27, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.28%.

Newly designed 2H-benzimidazole derivatives which have solubility groups at 2-position have been synthesized and incorporated into two highly soluble carbazole based alternating copolymers, poly[2,7-(9-(1 0 -octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole)-alt-5,5-(4 0 ,7 0di(thien-2-yl)-2H-benzimidazole-2 0 -spirocyclohexane)] (PCDTCHBI) and poly[2,7-(9-(1 0 -octylnonyl)-9H-carbazole)-alt-5,5-(4 0 ,7 0 -di(thien-2-yl)-2H-benzimidazole-2 0 -spiro-4 00 -((2 000 -ethylhexyl)oxy)-cyclohexane)] (PCDTEHOCHBI) for photovoltaic application. These alternating copolymers show low-band gap properties caused by internal charge transfer from an electron-rich unit to an electrondeficient moiety. HOMO and LUMO levels are -5.53 and -3.86 eV for PCDTCHBI, and -5.49 and -3.84 eV for PCDTEHOCHBI, respectively. Optical band gaps of PCDTCHBI and PCDTEHOCHBI are 1.67 and 1.65 eV, respectively. The new carbazole based the 2Hbenzimidazole polymers show 0.11-0.13 eV lower values of band gaps as compared to that of carbazole based benzothiadiazole polymer, poly[N-9 0 -heptadecanyl-2,7-carbazole-alt-5,5-(4 0 ,7 0 -di-2thienyl-2 0 ,1 0 ,3 0 -benzothiadiazole)] (PCDTBT), while keeping nearly the same deep HOMO levels. The power conversion efficiencies of PCDTCHBI and PCDTEHOCHBI blended with [6,6]phenyl-C 71butyric acid methyl ester (PC 71 BM) are 1.03 and 1.15%, respectively. V C 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 49: [369][370][371][372][373][374][375][376][377][378][379][380] 2011

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We report new random copolymers using the electron-deficient unit N-alkyl-2,2 0 -bithiophene-3,3 0 -dicarboximide (BTI) for organic solar cells. For absorption over a broader range of the solar spectrum, push-pull types of conjugated polymers PBTIBDT-3, PBTIBDT-5, and PBTIBDT-7, containing 4,8-bis(2-octyldodecyloxy) benzo[1,2-b;3,4-b']dithiophene (BDT) as electron-pushing unit and BTI as electron-pulling unit, were synthesized. The polymers were synthesized by coupling electron-pushing and electron-pulling units by Stille polymerization with Pd(0) catalyst. The incorporation of more BTI units induced more red shift of the absorption spectra of the polymer thin films. The device comprising PBTIBDT-5 and PC 71 BM (1:1) showed V OC = 0.76 V, J SC = 3.28 mA/cm 2 , and fill factor (FF) = 0.51, giving a power conversion efficiency of 1.26%.

A series of new semiconducting polymers based on 4,4‐dihexyl‐4H‐cyclopenta[2,1‐b:3,4‐b′]dithiophene, 2,2‐dihexyl‐2H‐benzimidazole, and thiophene units was synthesized. The polymers show good solubility at room temperature in organic solvents owing to long alkyl chain in new acceptor, 2,2‐dihexyl‐2H‐benzimidazole. The advantage of dihexyl‐2H‐benzimidazole compared to the benzothiadiazole is to improve the solubility of the polymer. It was found that these polymers can finely be tuned for photovoltaic application by adjusting the contents ratio of the dihexyl‐2H‐benzimidazole unit. The spectra of the solid films show absorption bands with maximum peaks in the range of 421–577 nm and the absorption onsets at 588–683 nm, corresponding to band gaps of 2.11–1.82 eV. The devices with PCPDTDTHBI‐1:PC71BM showed an open‐circuit voltage (VOC) of 0.46 V, a short‐circuit current density (JSC) of 3.83 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 0.36, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.64%. Decrease of the dihexyl‐2H‐benzimidazole contents in the polymers induced red‐shift of the UV absorptions, and increased VOC and JSC values, to improve the efficiency of organic photovoltaics. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010

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