Previously we have reported a series of perylene dimide (PDI) dimers as efficient solution-processible small molecule acceptors. In this paper we present a new solution-processible PDI trimer with triphenylamine as the romatic bridge. This trimer was synthesized by Suzuki coupling reaction and fully characterized with ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, TOF-MS, and elementary analysis. It exhibits a broad absorption band in the wavelength range from 450 to 650 nm with a peak round 533 nm and a maximum extinction coefficient of 9.61 × 10⁴ M^-1 cm^-1. Its lowest unoccupied and highest occupied molecular orbit (LUMO and HOMO) energies are −3.75 and −5.60 eV. When blend with the commercial P3HT, it gives an open-circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.73 V, a short-circuit current-density (J_sc) of 0.60 mA/cm², a fill-factor (FF) of 51.0% and an efficiency of 0.22%. When utilizing the conjugated polymer of PBDTTT-C-T as the donor and 5% DIO as the additive, the best conventional cell yields 1.82% efficiency with a V_oc of 0.99 V, a J_sc of 3.44 mA/cm², and an FF of 53.0%.

Date Published: 6 October 2014
PDF: 11 pages
Proc. SPIE 9184, Organic Photovoltaics XV, 91840C (6 October 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2058421

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9184:
Organic Photovoltaics XV
Zakya H. Kafafi; Paul A. Lane; Ifor D. W. Samuel, Editor(s)