Effect of Fluorine Substitution on Photovoltaic Properties of Alkoxyphenyl Substituted Benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-Based Small Molecules

Two new small molecules, C3T-BDTP and C3T-BDTP-F with alkoxyphenyl-substituted benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) and meta-fluorinated-alkoxyphenyl-substituted BDT as the central donor blocks, respectively, have been synthesized and used as donor materials in organic solar cells (OSCs). With the addition of 0.4% v/v 1,8-diiodooctane (DIO), the blend of C3T-BDTP-F/PC71BM showed a higher hole mobility of 8.67 × 10(-4) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) compared to that of the blend of C3T-BDTP/PC71BM. Two types of interlayers, zirconium acetylacetonate (ZrAcac) and perylene diimide (PDI) derivatives (PDINO and PDIN), were used to further optimize the performance of OSCs. With a device structure of ITO/PEDOT:PSS/donor:PC71BM/PDIN/Al, the OSCs based on C3T-BDTP delivered a satisfying power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.27% with an open circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.91 V, whereas the devices based on C3T-BDTP-F showed an enhanced PCE of 5.42% with a higher V(oc) of 0.97 V.