New Donor-Acceptor Benzotrithiophene-Containing Conjugated Polymers for Solar Cells

Abstract

In the present study four new low band gap alternating donor-acceptor copolymers based on benzotrithiophene were synthesized under Stille reaction conditions. All polymers show good solubility in common organic solvents and a broad absorption in the visible region of the solar spectrum. The band gap of polymer films and HOMO levels of polymers were obtained from the voltammograms and vary in the range 1.4-2.4 eV and -5.0 - 5.4 eV, respectively. Open circuit voltage and efficiency of the developed polymer solar cells are in the range 0.33-0.57 V and 0.01-0.14 %, respectively.