Side-chain tunability of furan-containing low-band-gap polymers provides control of structural order in efficient solar cells

Alan T. Yiu; Pierre Beaujuge; Olivia P. Lee; Claire Woo; Michael F. Toney; Jean Frechet

doi:10.1021/ja2089662

Side-chain tunability of furan-containing low-band-gap polymers provides control of structural order in efficient solar cells

Alan T. Yiu, Pierre Beaujuge, Olivia P. Lee, Claire Woo, Michael F. Toney, Jean Frechet

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

465 Scopus citations

Abstract

The solution-processability of conjugated polymers in organic solvents has classically been achieved by modulating the size and branching of alkyl substituents appended to the backbone. However, these substituents impact structural order and charge transport properties in thin-film devices. As a result, a trade-off must be found between material solubility and insulating alkyl content. It was recently shown that the substitution of furan for thiophene in the backbone of the polymer PDPP2FT significantly improves polymer solubility, allowing for the use of shorter branched side chains while maintaining high device efficiency. In this report, we use PDPP2FT to demonstrate that linear alkyl side chains can be used to promote thin-film nanostructural order. In particular, linear side chains are shown to shorten π-π stacking distances between backbones and increase the correlation lengths of both π-π stacking and lamellar spacing, leading to a substantial increase in the efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	2180-2185
Number of pages	6
Journal	Journal of the American Chemical Society
Volume	134
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/ja2089662
State	Published - Jan 19 2012

Bibliographical note

KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01
Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21
Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) under Award No. KUS-C1-015-21, supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the Frechet "various gifts" fund for the support of research in new materials. Portions of this research were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource user facility, operated on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Biochemistry
Colloid and Surface Chemistry
General Chemistry
Catalysis

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10.1021/ja2089662

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title = "Side-chain tunability of furan-containing low-band-gap polymers provides control of structural order in efficient solar cells",

abstract = "The solution-processability of conjugated polymers in organic solvents has classically been achieved by modulating the size and branching of alkyl substituents appended to the backbone. However, these substituents impact structural order and charge transport properties in thin-film devices. As a result, a trade-off must be found between material solubility and insulating alkyl content. It was recently shown that the substitution of furan for thiophene in the backbone of the polymer PDPP2FT significantly improves polymer solubility, allowing for the use of shorter branched side chains while maintaining high device efficiency. In this report, we use PDPP2FT to demonstrate that linear alkyl side chains can be used to promote thin-film nanostructural order. In particular, linear side chains are shown to shorten π-π stacking distances between backbones and increase the correlation lengths of both π-π stacking and lamellar spacing, leading to a substantial increase in the efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells. {\textcopyright} 2011 American Chemical Society.",

author = "Yiu, {Alan T.} and Pierre Beaujuge and Lee, {Olivia P.} and Claire Woo and Toney, {Michael F.} and Jean Frechet",

note = "KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2020-10-01 Acknowledged KAUST grant number(s): KUS-C1-015-21 Acknowledgements: This work was supported in part by the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, of the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231, the Center for Advanced Molecular Photovoltaics (CAMP) under Award No. KUS-C1-015-21, supported by King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and the Frechet {"}various gifts{"} fund for the support of research in new materials. Portions of this research were carried out at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource user facility, operated on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.",

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N2 - The solution-processability of conjugated polymers in organic solvents has classically been achieved by modulating the size and branching of alkyl substituents appended to the backbone. However, these substituents impact structural order and charge transport properties in thin-film devices. As a result, a trade-off must be found between material solubility and insulating alkyl content. It was recently shown that the substitution of furan for thiophene in the backbone of the polymer PDPP2FT significantly improves polymer solubility, allowing for the use of shorter branched side chains while maintaining high device efficiency. In this report, we use PDPP2FT to demonstrate that linear alkyl side chains can be used to promote thin-film nanostructural order. In particular, linear side chains are shown to shorten π-π stacking distances between backbones and increase the correlation lengths of both π-π stacking and lamellar spacing, leading to a substantial increase in the efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

AB - The solution-processability of conjugated polymers in organic solvents has classically been achieved by modulating the size and branching of alkyl substituents appended to the backbone. However, these substituents impact structural order and charge transport properties in thin-film devices. As a result, a trade-off must be found between material solubility and insulating alkyl content. It was recently shown that the substitution of furan for thiophene in the backbone of the polymer PDPP2FT significantly improves polymer solubility, allowing for the use of shorter branched side chains while maintaining high device efficiency. In this report, we use PDPP2FT to demonstrate that linear alkyl side chains can be used to promote thin-film nanostructural order. In particular, linear side chains are shown to shorten π-π stacking distances between backbones and increase the correlation lengths of both π-π stacking and lamellar spacing, leading to a substantial increase in the efficiency of bulk heterojunction solar cells. © 2011 American Chemical Society.

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Side-chain tunability of furan-containing low-band-gap polymers provides control of structural order in efficient solar cells

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