Quinoxaline-based Polymers with Asymmetric Aromatic Side Chain Enables 16.27% Efficiency for Organic Solar Cells

• Published in: Chinese journal of polymer science Vol. 41; no. 7; pp. 1002 - 1010
• Main Authors: Li, Dong-Xu, Li, Shu-Fang, Wen, Cheng-Long, Sun, Chao-Yuan, Shi, Chang-Zhou, Xia, Xin-Xin, Lu, Xin-Hui, Jiang, Li-Hui, Yuan, Jun, Zou, Ying-Ping
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Singapore Springer Nature Singapore 01.07.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Asymmetry; Carrier recombination; Chains (polymeric); Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemical synthesis; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Condensed Matter Physics; Current carriers; Donor materials; Energy conversion efficiency; Energy levels; Industrial Chemistry/Chemical Engineering; Morphology; Optimization; Photovoltaic cells; Polymer Sciences; Polymers; Quinoxalines; Research Article; Solar cells; Binary device; Asymmetric aromatic side chain; Fluorine substitution; Quinoxaline-based polymer donor
• ISSN: 0256-7679; 1439-6203
• DOI: 10.1007/s10118-023-2895-5

In recent years, due to the rapid development of high-performance small molecule acceptor (SMA) materials, the researches on p -type electron donor materials for matching with current efficient SMAs have become important. By means of asymmetric strategies to optimize the energy levels and inter/intramolecular interactions of molecules, we designed and synthesized an asymmetric aromatic side chain quinoxaline-based polymer donor TPQ-0F. Meanwhile, we took advantage of F atom which could form noncovalent interaction and strong electron-withdrawing property, to obtain the optimized quinoxaline-based polymer donors TPQ-1F, TPQ-1Fi and TPQ-2F. Eventually, the binary device based on TPQ-2F achieved an efficient power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 16.27%, which attributed to balanced hole/electron mobilities, less charge carrier recombination, and more favorable aggregation morphology. Our work demonstrates the great potential of asymmetric aromatic side chain quinoxaline-based polymer donors on optimizing the morphology of blending films, improving inter/intramolecular interactions, and subtly tuning energy level, finally for more efficient organic solar cells.