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. 2023 May 16;16(10):3759.
doi: 10.3390/ma16103759.

New Benzotrithiophene-Based Molecules as Organic P-Type Semiconductor for Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells

Cristian Castillo  1 , Andrés Aracena  2 , Luis Ballesteros  3 , Gloria Neculqueo  4 , Loik Gence  5   6 , Franck Quero  1
Affiliations

New Benzotrithiophene-Based Molecules as Organic P-Type Semiconductor for Small-Molecule Organic Solar Cells

Cristian Castillo et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

A new benzotrithiophene-based small molecule, namely 2,5,8-Tris[5-(2,2-dicyanovinyl)-2-thienyl]-benzo[1,2-b:3,4-b':6,5-b″]-trithiophene (DCVT-BTT), was successfully synthesized and subsequently characterized. This compound was found to present an intense absorption band at a wavelength position of ∼544 nm and displayed potentially relevant optoelectronic properties for photovoltaic devices. Theoretical studies demonstrated an interesting behavior of charge transport as electron donor (hole-transporting) active material for heterojunction cells. A preliminary study of small-molecule organic solar cells based on DCVT-BTT (as the P-type organic semiconductor) and phenyl-C61-butyric acid methyl ester (as the N-type organic semiconductor) exhibited a power conversion efficiency of 2.04% at a donor: acceptor weight ratio of 1:1.

Keywords: benzotrithiophene derivative; organic semiconductors; organic solar cells; small molecule; π-stacked assemblies.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Scheme 1
Scheme 1
Synthetic routes for the preparation of DCVT-BTT compounds.
Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic representation of the SM-OSC configuration used in the present study. The active layer corresponds to a bulk heterojunction system of donor and acceptor molecules.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Comparison of a UV–visible spectrum of DCVT-BTT (black) with calculated oscillator strength values for DCVT-BTT, both obtained using acetone as solvent. The oscillator strength values were scaled to match the experimental spectrum.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Frontier molecular orbitals of DCVT-BTT. (a) HOMO and (b) LUMO.
Figure 4
Figure 4
(a) Optimized molecular structure of DCVT-BTT dimer. Frontier molecular orbitals of DCVT-BTT dimer: (b) HOMO and (c) LUMO.
Figure 5
Figure 5
UV–visible absorption spectra of DCVT-BTT:PC61BM films onto quartz prepared at various D:A weight ratios (2:1, 1:1, and 1:2).
Figure 6
Figure 6
Scanning electron micrographs obtained from the surface of DCVT-BTT:PC61BM layer of OSC devices with donor (D) and acceptor (A) weight ratios of (a) D:A = 1:1 and (b) D:A = 2:1.
Figure 7
Figure 7
J−V curves obtained from the evaluation of the SM-OSCs with DCVT-BTT:PC61BM under AM 1.5G illumination at various weight ratios of D:A: 2:1 (green line), 1:1 (red line), and 1:2 (blue line).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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