Issue 3, 2015

Small bandgap naphthalene diimide copolymers for efficient inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells

Abstract

Two low band-gap naphthalene diimide (NDI)-based conjugated polymers have been designed and grafted with benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene (BDT) or dithieno [3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole (DTP) by a Stille cross-coupling reaction. Inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells (HSCs) based on the copolymers deliver high performances by suitable molecular design and careful selection of chemical structures with different electronic nature. The well designed copolymers exhibit broader solar light absorption, which is attributed to their smaller band gaps. Density functional theory calculations and cyclic voltammetry characteristics reveal that the copolymers have small band gaps and deep HOMO and LUMO energy levels. Moreover, after introducing the copolymers, the energy level formation of the bulk-heterojunction become more matched, thus giving rise to excellent photovoltaic performances as HSCs. The results showed that an NDI-based copolymer with DTP donor segments exhibits a higher power conversion efficiency of 2.36%. This work highlights the development of bipolar host materials with a focus on molecular design strategies, which benefits the light harvest and enhances the efficiency by well aligned energy level formation.

Graphical abstract: Small bandgap naphthalene diimide copolymers for efficient inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Oct 2014
Accepted
24 Nov 2014
First published
25 Nov 2014

RSC Adv., 2015,5, 2147-2154

Small bandgap naphthalene diimide copolymers for efficient inorganic–organic hybrid solar cells

Y. Qin, X. Li, W. Sun, X. Luo, M. Li, X. Tang, X. Jin, Y. Xie, X. Ouyang and Q. Li, RSC Adv., 2015, 5, 2147 DOI: 10.1039/C4RA12188K

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements