Influence of heterocycle substitution in π-functional materials for organic photovoltaics

Abstract

This dissertation details the work performed by the author in the Jeffries-EL group from 2009-2015. The work discussed is centered around the design, synthesis, and characterization of various π-conjugated materials and their use in organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cells. Chapter 1 is a general introduction to the physical and electronic properties of organic semiconducting materials, as well as the synthetic principals toward designing narrow band gap materials. An overview of the history, physics, and engineering requirements of OPV solar cells is also discussed. Chapter 2 is a paper that has been submitted to Chemistry-A European Journal for publication and discusses the impact of nitrogen substitution for the sulfur atom of the widely used thienopyrroledione (TPD) acceptor unit. The majority of the synthetic work was performed by the author. Additional monomer precursors were synthesized by Jon Stoffer. The device fabrication and testing was performed by Moneim Elshobaki and Ryan Gebhardt. Computational work was performed by David Wheeler. The computational section was written by Aimée Tomlinson. The remainder of the manuscript was written by the author of this dissertation. Chapter 3 is a manuscript in preparation for Macromolecules and reports the synthesis of a series of donor-acceptor-donor-acceptor-donor (D1-A-D2-A-D1) based molecular donors and the impact of the variation of D1 and D2 on the physical and electronic HETEROATOM INFLUENCE ON THE ELECTRONIC PROPERTIES OF ARYL[3,4-c]PYRROLEDIONE BASED COPOLYMERS.