Phenoxy-(Chloro) -Boron Subnaphthalocyanines: Alloyed Mixture, Electron-Accepting Functionality, and Enhanced Solubility for Bulk Heterojunction Organic Photovoltaics.

The first set of phenoxy BsubNc compounds, PhO-Cl BsubNc and F-Cl BsubNc, was synthesized through an axial displacement reaction of Cl-Cl BsubNc with phenol and pentafluorophenol (respectively). Like their precursor, the products were found to be an alloyed mixture of phenoxylated Cl BsubNcs with random positioning in the solid state yet consistent frequency of bay position chlorination. The average bay position chlorine occupancy was determined to be 0.

Using volatile additives to alter the morphology and performance of active layers in thin-film molecular photovoltaic devices incorporating bulk heterojunctions.

Thin-film photovoltaic devices composed of polymers or small molecules have an exciting future as sources of renewable energy because they can be made in large sizes on flexible surfaces by inexpensive techniques of fabrication. Significant progress in developing new molecular photovoltaic materials and device architectures has been achieved in the last decade. The identity of molecular components in active layers and their individual optoelectronic properties obviously help determine the properties of devices; in addition, however, the behavior of devices depends critically on the nature of the local organization of the components.

P3HT:PCBM, best seller in polymer photovoltaic research.

In the fi eld of polymer-based photovoltaic cells, poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and 1-(3-methoxycarbonyl)propyl-1-phenyl[6,6]C₆₁ (PCBM) are, to date, the most-studied active materials around the world for the bulk-heterojunction structure. Various power-conversion effi ciencies are reported up to approximately 5%. This Research News article is focused on a survey of the tremendous literature published between 2002 and 2010 that exhibits solar cells based on blends of P3HT and PCBM.