TY - JOUR
T1 - An oligothiophene chromophore with a macrocyclic side chain
T2 - Synthesis, morphology, charge transport, and photovoltaic performance
AU - Venkatesan, Swaminathan
AU - Sun, Jianyuan
AU - Zhang, Lianjie
AU - Dubey, Ashish
AU - Sykes, Andrew
AU - Lin, Ting Yu
AU - Hung, Yu Chueh
AU - Qiao, Qiquan
AU - Zhang, Cheng
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - An oligothiophene chromophore RingBDT(T3A)2 has been synthesized, where BDT is benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene, Ring is a 1,12-dodecylenedioxy cyclic side chain on the benzene of BDT, T3 is 2,2′:5′,2′′-terthiophene, and A is an electron acceptor. In single crystals, the immediate precursor of RingBDT(T3A)2 formed π-dimers and the ring prevented further π-stacking of the dimers. A differential scanning calorimetry study showed that BDT(T3A)2, the ringless analog with two 2-ethylhexyloxy side chains on BDT, crystallized quickly from its melt upon cooling, while crystallization of RingBDT(T3A)2 melt upon cooling was slow and incomplete. Interestingly, RingBDT(T3A)2 solid crystallized fast at ∼110 °C upon heating, but its thin films (200 nm) remained amorphous after annealing at 80 °C. Despite the amorphous nature, the hole mobility of RingBDT(T3A)2 films (1.52 × 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1) was 144% higher than that of the highly crystalline BDT(T3A)2 films (200-80 nm). Solar cells were fabricated from blends of the chromophores and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM). Thermal annealing at 100 °C for 10 minutes enhanced chromophore π-π interaction, and improved device fill factor and efficiency for the RingBDT(T3A)2 blend solar cells, while retaining the amorphous nature of blend. In stark contrast, thermal annealing under the same conditions caused the efficiency of BDT(T3A)2 cell efficiency to drop by 82%. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of using a macrocyclic side chain as a strategy for developing amorphous molecular semiconducting materials with improved mobility and morphological stability.
AB - An oligothiophene chromophore RingBDT(T3A)2 has been synthesized, where BDT is benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene, Ring is a 1,12-dodecylenedioxy cyclic side chain on the benzene of BDT, T3 is 2,2′:5′,2′′-terthiophene, and A is an electron acceptor. In single crystals, the immediate precursor of RingBDT(T3A)2 formed π-dimers and the ring prevented further π-stacking of the dimers. A differential scanning calorimetry study showed that BDT(T3A)2, the ringless analog with two 2-ethylhexyloxy side chains on BDT, crystallized quickly from its melt upon cooling, while crystallization of RingBDT(T3A)2 melt upon cooling was slow and incomplete. Interestingly, RingBDT(T3A)2 solid crystallized fast at ∼110 °C upon heating, but its thin films (200 nm) remained amorphous after annealing at 80 °C. Despite the amorphous nature, the hole mobility of RingBDT(T3A)2 films (1.52 × 10-3 cm2 V-1 s-1) was 144% higher than that of the highly crystalline BDT(T3A)2 films (200-80 nm). Solar cells were fabricated from blends of the chromophores and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC60BM). Thermal annealing at 100 °C for 10 minutes enhanced chromophore π-π interaction, and improved device fill factor and efficiency for the RingBDT(T3A)2 blend solar cells, while retaining the amorphous nature of blend. In stark contrast, thermal annealing under the same conditions caused the efficiency of BDT(T3A)2 cell efficiency to drop by 82%. This study demonstrates the effectiveness of using a macrocyclic side chain as a strategy for developing amorphous molecular semiconducting materials with improved mobility and morphological stability.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84993982628&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84993982628&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1039/c6ra21681a
DO - 10.1039/c6ra21681a
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84993982628
SN - 2046-2069
VL - 6
SP - 102043
EP - 102056
JO - RSC Advances
JF - RSC Advances
IS - 104
ER -