Trifluoromethylation in the Design and Synthesis of High-Performance Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors for Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells

Qiu，Dongsheng1; Lai，Xue1,2; Lai，Hanjian1; Pu，Mingrui1; Rehman，Tahir1; Zhu，Yulin1,2; He，Feng1,3

2023

10.1021/acsami.3c10038

ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces   Impact Factor & Quartile

1944-8244

1944-8252

New strategies for the molecular design to construct efficient electron-deficient units for D-A-type donor copolymers are urgently needed. Halogenation of electron-deficient units (A) has been shown to be the most effective strategy reported to date with which to produce high-performance donor polymers. Herein, we have constructed two different trifluoromethyl-substituted polymer donors, PBQP-CF and PBQ-CF. The trifluoromethylation process typically involves complex protocols, which are not widely used in the synthesis of polymer donors. Accordingly, we have developed a single-step, one-pot synthesis of the new trifluoromethyl-substituted electron-deficient unit (A) of PBQ-CF. The strong electron-withdrawing ability of the trifluoromethyl group ensures deeper highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy levels, and the non-covalent bonding interactions of the fluorine atoms are beneficial to the regulation of aggregation properties. Thus, both of the trifluoromethyl-substituted polymer donors obtained much higher power conversion efficiency (PCE) than PBDP-H (6.66%). PBQ-CF exhibits a deeper HOMO energy level, better aggregation behavior, and higher hole mobility than PBQP-CF. PBQ-CF-based quasiplanar heterojunction (Q-PHJ) devices therefore achieve simultaneously enhanced open-circuit voltage (V), short-circuit current density (J), and fill factor (FF) and an impressive PCE (16.02%), which is much higher than that obtained by PBQP-CF-based devices (12.57%). This work reveals a promising path to synthesis of the trifluoromethylation polymer donors and demonstrates that the trifluoromethylation strategy can be used to enhance the photovoltaic performance.

D−A copolymer donors one-pot reaction organic solar cells quasiplanar heterojunction trifluoromethylation strategy

SCI

English

First ; Corresponding

National Natural Science Foundation of China["22225504","21975115"] ; Shenzhen Fundamen tal Research Program["JCYJ20200109140801751","JCYJ20210324120010028"] ; Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalysis[2020B121201002]

Science & Technology - Other Topics ; Materials Science

Nanoscience & Nanotechnology ; Materials Science, Multidisciplinary

WOS:001063232200001

AMER CHEMICAL SOC

2-s2.0-85169847638

Scopus

1.Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,Guangdong,518055,China
2.School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering,Harbin Institute of Technology,Harbin,Heilongjiang,150001,China
3.Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Catalytic Chemistry,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,Guangdong,518055,China

Qiu，Dongsheng,Lai，Xue,Lai，Hanjian,et al. Trifluoromethylation in the Design and Synthesis of High-Performance Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors for Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells[J]. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces,2023,15(35).

Qiu，Dongsheng.,Lai，Xue.,Lai，Hanjian.,Pu，Mingrui.,Rehman，Tahir.,...&He，Feng.(2023).Trifluoromethylation in the Design and Synthesis of High-Performance Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors for Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells.ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces,15(35).

Qiu，Dongsheng,et al."Trifluoromethylation in the Design and Synthesis of High-Performance Wide Bandgap Polymer Donors for Quasiplanar Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells".ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces 15.35(2023).