Rational Design of High-Performance Wide-Bandgap (≈2 eV) Polymer Semiconductors as Electron Donors in Organic Photovoltaics Exhibiting High Open Circuit Voltages (≈1 V).

Systematic optimization of the chemical structure of wide-bandgap (≈2.0 eV) "donor-acceptor" copolymers consisting of indacenodithiophene or indacenodithieno[3,2-b]thiophene as the electron-rich unit and thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione as the electron-deficient moiety in terms of alkyl side chain engineering and distance of the electron-rich and electron-deficient monomers within the repeat unit of the polymer chain results in high-performance electron donor materials for organic photovoltaics. Specifically, preliminary results demonstrate extremely high open circuit voltages (V s) of ≈1.

Systematic Analysis of Polymer Molecular Weight Influence on the Organic Photovoltaic Performance.

The molecular weight of an electron donor-conjugated polymer is as essential as other well-known parameters in the chemical structure of the polymer, such as length and the nature of any side groups (alkyl chains) positioned on the polymeric backbone, as well as their placement, relative strength, the ratio of the donor and acceptor moieties in the backbone of donor-acceptor (D-A)-conjugated polymers, and the arrangement of their energy levels for organic photovoltaic performance. Finding the "optimal" molecular weight for a specific conjugated polymer is an important aspect for the development of novel photovoltaic polymers. Therefore, it is evident that the chemistry of functional conjugated polymers faces major challenges and materials have to adopt a broad range of specifications in order to be established for high photovoltaic performance.