title: Small molecular donors for organic solar cells obtained by simple and clean synthesis.
abstract: A small donor-acceptor molecule is synthesized in a two-step procedure involving reaction of N,N-diphenylhydrazine on 2,5-diformylthiophene and Knoevenagel condensation. Results of UV/Vis absorption spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry show that replacement of the phenyl ring bridge of a reference compound 2 by an azo group produces a slight red-shift of λmax, an enhancement of the molecular absorption coefficient, and a decrease of the energy level of the frontier orbitals. A preliminary evaluation of the potentialities of compound 1 as donor material in a basic bilayer planar heterojunction cell of 28 mm(2) active area using C60 as acceptor gave a short-circuit current density of 6.32 mA cm(-2) and a power conversion efficiency of 2.07 %.
authors.affiliation: Group Linear Conjugated Systems, CNRS, Moltech-Anjou, University of Angers, 2 Bd Lavoisier 49045 Angers (France).
authors.forename: Dora
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Demeter
authors.forename: Salma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mohamed
authors.forename: Andreea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diac
authors.forename: Ion
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Grosu
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Roncali
mesh_terms: D060326:Chemistry Techniques, Synthetic; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004563:Electrochemistry; D055772:Green Chemistry Technology; D012993:Solar Energy; D013876:Thiophenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis* / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D013876:Thiophenes
keywords: condensations; donor-acceptor; energy conversion; photovoltaics; solar cells