A series of donor-acceptor-donor (D-A-D) structured small-molecule compounds, with 3,3'-(ethane-1,2-diylidene)bis(indolin-2-one) (EBI) as a novel electron acceptor building block coupled with various electron donor end-capping moieties (thiophene, bithiophene and benzofuran), were synthesized and characterized. When the fused-ring benzofuran is combined to EBI (EBI-BF), the molecules displayed a perfectly planar conformation and afforded the best charge tranport properties among these EBI compounds with a hole mobility of up to 0.021 cm 2 V -1 s -1 . All EBI-based small molecules were used as donor material along with a PC61BM acceptor for the fabrication of solution-processed bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) solar cells. The best performing photovoltaic devices are based on the EBI derivative using the bithiophene end-capping moiety (EBI-2T) with a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 1.92%, owing to the broad absorption spectra of EBI-2T and the appropriate morphology of the BHJ. With the aim of establishing a correlation between the molecular structure and the thin film morphology, differential scanning calorimetry, atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction analysis were performed on neat and blend films of each material.
An oligomeric semiconductor containing three bisthiophenediketopyrrolopyrole units (Tri-BTDPP) was synthesized and characterized. Tri-BTDPP has a HOMO level of -5.34 eV, a broad absorption close to the near infrared region and a low band gap of 1.33 eV. Additionally, a promising hole mobility of 1 x 10 -3 cm² V -1 s -1 was achieved after thermal annealing at 150 °C in organic field effect transistors (OFET). Organic photovoltaic (OPV) cells containing Tri-BTDPP and PC71BM as the donor/acceptor couple exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 0.72%. Through an intensive study of the active layer using AFM, XRD, and DSC, it was found that Tri-BTDPP and PC71BM were unable to intermix effectively, resulting in oversized Tri-BTDPP crystalline phases and thus poor charge separation. Strategies to improve the OPV performance were thus proposed.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.