title: Utilizing alkoxyphenyl substituents for side-chain engineering of efficient benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-based small molecule organic solar cells.
abstract: A new two-dimensional (2D) conjugated small molecule, namely DCA3TBDTP, with an alkoxyphenyl substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) unit as the central core, octyl cyanoacetate as the end-capped groups and terthiophene as the π-linked bridge, was designed and synthesized for solution-processed organic solar cells (OSCs) as an electron donor material, in which an alkoxyphenyl group was introduced as a weak electron-donating side chain of the BDT moiety. The DCA3TBDTP molecule exhibited good solubility, a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level (-5.25 eV), an appropriate optical band-gap (1.82 eV) and a high decomposition temperature (362 °C). By applying the simple solution spin-coating fabrication process, the bulk heterojunction (BHJ) OSCs based on DCA3TBDTP and [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) exhibited a good power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.51% with a high open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.90 V when thermal annealing at only 70 °C.
authors.affiliation: CAS Key Laboratory of Bio-based Materials, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266101, China. yangrq@qibebt.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Zhengkun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.forename: Weichao
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Qiu
authors.forename: Yanhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Mingliang
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Donghong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.forename: Renqiang
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D015394:Molecular Structure; D009570:Nitriles / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*; D012993:Solar Energy; D013876:Thiophenes / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: C000605900:DCA3TBDTP compound; D009570:Nitriles; D013876:Thiophenes; C000605899:benzo(1,2-b-4,5-b')dithiophene