• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.31 no.4
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• pp.1064-1066
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• 2010

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.3
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• pp.1029-1036
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• 2012

Push-pull-type copolymers - low-band-gap copolymers of electron-rich fused-ring units (such as cyclopentadithiophene; CPDT) and electron-deficient units (such as benzothiadiazole; BT) - are promising donor materials for organic solar cells. Following a design principles proposed in our previous study, we investigate the electronic structure of a series of new CPDTBT derivatives with various electron-withdrawing groups using the time-dependent density functional theory and predict their power conversion efficiency from a newlydeveloped protocol using the Scharber diagram. Significantly improved efficiencies are expected for derivatives with carbonyl [C=O], carbonothioyl [C=S], dicyano [$C(CN)_2$] and dicyanomethylene [C=$C(CN)_2$] groups, but these polymers with no long alkyl side chain attached to them are likely to be insoluble in most organic solvents and inapplicable to low-cost solution processes. We thus devise several approaches to attach alkyl side chains to these polymers while keeping their high efficiencies.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.1861-1866
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• 2012

The new semiconducting copolymers with 4,4-dialkyl-$4H$-cyclopenta[2,1-$b$:3,4-$b^{\prime}$]dithiophene and 2,2-dimethyl-$2H$-benzimidazole units were synthesized. The fused aromatic rings, such as cyclopentadithiophene (CPDT) unit, can make the polymer backbone more rigid and coplanar, which induces long conjugation length, narrow band gap, and strong intermolecular ${\pi}-{\pi}$ interaction. The stacking ability was controlled through attaching of linear or branched alkyl side chains. The spectra of PEHCPDTMBI and PHCPDTMBI in the solid films show absorption bands with maximum peaks at 401, 759 and 407, 768 nm, and the absorption onsets at 925 and 954 nm, corresponding to band gaps of 1.34 and 1.30 eV, respectively. The devices comprising PHCPDTMBI with $TiO_X$ showed a $V_{OC}$ of 0.39 V, a $J_{SC}$ of 1.14 $mA/cm^2$, and a $FF$ of 0.34, giving a power conversion efficiency of 0.15%. The PHCPDTMBI with linear alkyl chain on CPDT shows good solubility in organic solvent with higher PCE value than that of PEHCPDTMBI.

• Polymer(Korea)
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• v.30 no.5
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• pp.367-372
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• 2006

Electrochromic materials based on conducting polymers with pendant chromophores as well as their electrochromic properties are described. The conducting polymers described aye polypyrrole, polythiophene, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), poly (cyclopentadithiophene), and poly (1,4-bis [2- (3,4-ethylenedioxy) thienyl] benzene). The chromophores described are viologen and perylenetetra-carboxylic diimide. When the wavelength ranges of absorption of the conducting polymer and the chromophore aye not overlapping, multiple electrochromism was achieved. When the wavelength ranges are largely overlapping, higher contrast was achieved. An easy method for prediction of the film thickness for maximum contrast of a given electrochromic material is also described.