Small Molecules Derived from Thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6-dione (TPD) and Their Use in Solution Processed Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

In this work, microwave synthesis, chemical, optical and electrochemical characterization of three small organic molecules, TPA-TPD, TPA-PT-TPD and TPA-TT-TPD with donor-acceptor structure and their use in organic photovoltaic cells are reported. For the synthesis, 5-(2-ethylhexyl)-4H-thieno[3,4-c]pyrrole-4,6(5H)-dione was used as electron withdrawing fragment while the triphenylamine was used as electron donating fragment. Molecular electronic geometry and electronic distribution density were established by density functional theory (DFT) calculations and confirmed by optical and chemical characterization. These molecules were employed as electron-donors in the active layer for manufacturing bulk heterojunction organic solar cells, where [6,6]-phenyl C71 butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM) was used as electron-acceptor. As cathode, Field′s metal (FM), an eutectic alloy (Bi/In/Sn: 32.5%, 51%, and 16.5%, respectively) with a melting point above 62 °C, was easily deposited by drop casting under vacuum-free process and at air atmosphere. Prepared devices based on TPA-TPD:PC71BM (1:4 w/w ratio) presented a large VOC = 0.97 V, with JSC = 7.9 mA/cm2, a FF = 0.34, then, a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.6%.

Keywords

• organic small molecules
• microwave synthesis
• donor-acceptor-donor structure
• organic solar cells