Mica, N.A., Almahmoud, S.A.J., Krishnan Jagadamma, L., Cooke, G. and Samuel, I.D.W. (2018) An investigation of the role acceptor side chains play in the processibility and efficiency of organic solar cells fabricated from small molecular donors featuring 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene cores. RSC Advances, 2018(8), pp. 39231-39240. (doi: 10.1039/C8RA07034B)
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Abstract
Organic photovoltaic devices fabricated from small molecular donors continue to receive significant interest due to their desirable properties such as convenient synthesis, purification and batch-to-batch reproducibility. In this study, we have synthesized two small molecules based on an alternating A–D–A structure, utilizing a central EDOT donor moiety and either 2-ethylhexyl cyanoacetate (SAM-72) or N-(2-ethylhexyl)cyanoacetamide (SAM-80) units as acceptor termini. The small molecules were incorporated into bulk heterojunction solar cells with PC71BM. Our investigations have shown that the side chains utilized for SAM-80 only allow for solution processing using volatile solvents, such as chloroform, which limits the reproducibility of device fabrication. However, SAM-72 displays better solubility and devices fabricated using a SAM-72:PC71BM active layer reached average power conversion efficiencies of 1.9%, with fill factors reaching 60%. Post-processing methods such as thermal and solvent vapor annealing were found to significantly increase the stability of devices, but were not able to improve overall device performance.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | We are grateful for funding from EPSRC under grant codes EP/L012294/1, EP/L012170/1 and EP/L015110/1. Sondos Abdullah J Almahmoud acknowledges the Ministry of Higher education in Saudi Arabia for the funding and support. We thank Dr S. M. Abdalhadi and Dr N. B. A. Prasetya for preparing compounds |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Almahmoud, Ms Sondos and Cooke, Professor Graeme |
| Authors: | Mica, N.A., Almahmoud, S.A.J., Krishnan Jagadamma, L., Cooke, G., and Samuel, I.D.W. |
| College/School: | College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry |
| Journal Name: | RSC Advances |
| Publisher: | Royal Society of Chemistry |
| ISSN: | 2046-2069 |
| ISSN (Online): | 2046-2069 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2018 The Royal Society of Chemistry |
| Publisher Policy: | First published in RSC Advances 2018(8):39231-39240 |
| Data DOI: | 10.5525/gla.researchdata.655 |
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