Synthesis and Characterization of Cyclopentadithiophene-Based Low Bandgap Copolymers Containing Electron-Deficient Benzoselenadiazole Derivatives for Photovoltaic Devices

Abstract

We have synthesized two cyclopentadithiophene (CDT)-based low bandgap copolymers, poly[(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl)-alt-(benzo[c] [1,2,5]selenadiazole-4,7-diyl)] (PCBSe) and poly[(4,4-bis(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b']dithiophene-2,6-diyl)-alt-(4,7- dithiophen-2-yl-benzo[c][1,2,5]selenadiazole-5,5'-diyl)] (PCT2BSe), for use in photovoltaic applications. Through the internal charge transfer interaction between the electron-donating CDT unit and the electron-accepting benzoselenadiazole, we realized exceedingly low bandgap polymers with bandgaps of 1.37-1.46 eV. The UV-vis absorption maxima of PCT2BSe were subjected to larger hypsochromic shifts than those of PCBSe, because of the distorted electron donor-acceptor (D-A) structures of the PCT2BSe backbone. These results were supported by the calculations of the D-A complex using the ab initio Hartree-Fock method with a split-valence 6-31G* basis set. However, PCT2BSe exhibited a better molar absorption coefficient in the visible region, which can lead to more efficient absorption of sunlight. As a result, PCT2BSe blended with [6,6]-phenyl-C-61-butyric acid methyl ester (PC61BM) exhibited a better photovoltaic performance than PCBSe because of the larger spectral overlap integral with respect to the solar spectru