Browsing by Author "Jwo, Pei-Chi"

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A New Ladder-Type Germanium-Bridged Dithienocarbazole Arene and Its Donor-Acceptor Conjugated Copolymers: Synthesis, Molecular Properties, and photovoltaic Applications
(2014-11-11)
Jwo, Pei-Chi
;
Lai, Yu-Ying
;
Tsai, Che-En
;
Lai, Yun-Yu
;
Liang, Wei-Wei
We have developed a new germanium-bridged heptacyclic arene, dithienogermolocarbazole (DTGC), in which two outer thiophene subunits are covalently fastened to the central 2,7-carbazole core by two dibutylgermanium bridges. The germole moieties embedded in the DTGC structure were successfully constructed by one-pot nucleophilic cyclization in a high yield of 88%. Because of the relatively lower polarity of carbongermanium bonds, the DTGC unit is chemically stable under basic conditions, rendering its more versatile functionalization. Comparison of germanium-bridged DTGC with the carbon-bridged DTCC (dithienocyclopentacarbazole) and silicon-bridged DTSC (dithienosilolocarbazole) analogues reveals that the HOMO energy level of DTGC lies between those of DTCC and DTSC and so does the LUMO energy level of DTGC. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that DTSC and DTGC have more bent structures than DTCC, which plays an important role in determining their frontier orbital energies. The structural disparity could be amplified in their corresponding polymers. The DTGC unit was copolymerized with four different comonomers, including benzothiadiazole (BT), dithienylbenzothiadiazole (DTBT), difluorobenzothiadiazole (FBT), and dithienyldifluorobenzothiadiazole (DTFBT) to yield a series of new alternating donoracceptor copolymers, poly(dithienogermolo-carbazole-alt-benzothiadiazole) (PDTGCBT), poly(dithienogermolocarbazole-alt-dithienylbenzothiadiazole) (PDTGCDTBT), poly(dithienogermolocarbazole-alt-difluorobenzothiadiazole) (PDTGCFBT), and poly(dithienogermolocarbazole-alt-dithienyldifluorobenzothiadiazole) (PDTGCDTFBT). Because of the two additional thiophene rings in the repeating units on the backbone to facilitate pi-electron delocalization, PDTGCFDTBT showed a lower optical band gap than PDTGCFBT. Furthermore, PDTGCDTFBT also showed the lower-lying LUMO and HOMO energy levels than PDTGCDTBT as a result of the electron-withdrawing fluorine atoms. Consequently, the bulk heterojunction solar cell incorporating PDTGCDTFBT delivered the highest performance with V-oc of 0.84 V, Jsc of 9.87 mA/cm(2), FF of 48.8%, and PCE of 4.05%. By adding 3 vol % 1-chloronaphthalene to tailor the morphology, the solar cell using PDTGCDTFBT with higher molecular weight exhibited the improved efficiency of 4.50% with a V-oc of 0.84 V, a J(sc) of 11.19 mA/cm(2), and an FF of 47.7%.
Carbazole-Based Ladder-Type Heptacylic Arene with Aliphatic Side Chains Leading to Enhanced Efficiency of Organic Photovoltaics
(2011-05-10)
Cheng, Yen-Ju
;
Wu, Jhong-Sian
;
Shih, Ping-I
;
Chang, Chih-Yu
;
Jwo, Pei-Chi
By utilizing Friedel-Crafts cyclization, we have successfully designed and synthesized a ladder-type heptacyclic carbazole-dicyclopentathiophene (CDCT-C8) unit in which two outer thiophene subunits are covalently fastened to the central 2,7-carbazole core. The nitrogen-directing effect of the carbazole unit facilitates the intrarnolecular cydization and thereby suppresses the acid-induced dehydration, allowing us to incorporate two octyl side chains on the cyclopentadiene rings in good chemical yield. The distannyl-CDCT-C8 building block was copolymerized with benzothiadiazole (BT), dithienylbenzothiadiazole (DTBT), dithienyldiketopyrrolopyrrole (DTDPP) and quinoxaline (QX) units by Stile polymerization to afford four alternating donor acceptor copolymers, PCDCTBT-C8, PCDCTDTBT-C8, PCDCTDTDPP-C8 and PCDCTQX-C8, respectively. The device based on the PCDCTBT-C8:PG7IBM (1:3 in wt%) blend exhibited a V(oc) of 0.74 V, a J(sc) of 10.3 mA/cm(2), a FF of 60%, delivering an impressive PCE of 4.6%. This value represents one of the best performances among carbazole-based conjugated polymers in the literatures. The corresponding PCDCTBT-C8 :PC(71)BM blend showed a high hole mobility of 1.2 x 10(-3) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1), which is in good agreement with its high current density and fill factor. This improved performance is associated with the modification of the aliphatic side chains on the CDCT structure to optimize the interchain interactions for enhanced charge transporting. The devices based on PCDCTDTBT-C8, PCDCTDTDPP-C8 and PCDCTQX-C8 polymers also displayed promising efficiencies of 3.5%, 2.4%, and 1.8%, respectively.