Abstract
We report the synthesis and characterization of novel 1,3,4-thiadiazole (TDz)-containing π-conjugated alternating copolymers with donor units, such as thiophene (PTDzTh), selenophene (PTDzSe), thieno[3,4-b]thiophene (PTDzTT), 3,3′-didodecyl-2,2′-bithiophene (PTDzBTh) and (E)-1,2-di-(3-dodecylthiophene)vinylene (PTDzTV). The TDz-containing polymers show deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels at approximately −5.50 to −5.20 eV due to the electron deficiency of the TDz unit. In addition, PTDzTV shows a relatively extended absorption wavelength (λonset=629 nm). The microstructures of the film state are primarily influenced by the interdigitation of the side chains, and PTDzTT with a rigid backbone forms a densely packed crystalline structure, as evidenced by grazing incident wide-angle X-ray scattering experiments. Polymer solar cells using the TDz polymers showed high open-circuit voltages up to 0.965 V based on the deep HOMO energy levels, and PTDzTV showed the highest power conversion efficiency of 0.529% among the polymers.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), PRESTO program (JY 220176). The authors also thank the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science for the partial financial support by KAKENHI (#24655097). SF and SM thank Innovative Flex Course for Frontier Organic Material Systems (iFront) at Yamagata University for their financial support. GIWAXS experiments were performed at the BL46XU of SPring-8 with the approval of the Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI; Proposal No. 2014B1590). We thank Professor Itaru Osaka (RIKEN) for conducting the GIWAXS experiments.
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Fukuta, S., Wang, Z., Miyane, S. et al. Synthesis of 1,3,4-thiadiazole-based donor–acceptor alternating copolymers for polymer solar cells with high open-circuit voltage. Polym J 47, 513–521 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2015.19
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/pj.2015.19
