Yin Yu, Bo Jin, R. Peng
Feb 1, 2016
Citations
0
Influential Citations
16
Citations
Journal
Synthetic Metals
Abstract
Abstract A series of [6,6]-phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (PCBM) analogs with different ester structures, such as isopropyl ester (F1), sec-butyl ester (F2), ethyl ester (F3), 2-thiopheneethyl ester (F4), phenethyl ester (F5), and 4-methoxyphenethyl ester (F6), were designed, synthesized, and evaluated for their photovoltaic performance. The optical, electrochemical, morphological, and photovoltaic properties of the molecules were characterized through UV–vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and atomic force microscopy; then, the effects of different ester structures on these properties were investigated. Results showed that polymer solar cells (PSCs) with P3HT as a donor and F1–F6 as acceptors displayed different photovoltaic properties. The PSCs with F1, F2, and F3 as acceptors showed higher photovoltaic performance than those with F4, F5 and F6 as acceptors. Moreover, the power conversion efficiency of the former three PSCs exceeded or approached 3.0%, whereas that of the latter three PSCs was below 2.0%. Compared with PCBM, F2 and F3 with an aliphatic ester exhibited a slightly better photovoltaic performance, F1 with isopropyl ester displayed similar photovoltaic properties, and other aromatic ring ester PCBM-like derivatives showed poorer photovoltaic performance.