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Polymer Solar Cells: Development of π-Conjugated Polymers with Controlled Energetics and Structural Orders

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Organic Solar Cells

Abstract

This chapter will summarize the development of π-conjugated polymers with donor–acceptor motifs, specifically, based on thiazolothiazole and naphthobischalcogenadiazoles as the acceptor unit. It is found that careful design of the molecular structure, the crystallinity and the backbone orientation of the polymers can be controlled. With the crystalline structure and favorable face-on backbone orientation, the polymers show high power conversion efficiencies, in particular, with thick active layers of around 300 nm. Further, a polymer system with naphthobisoxadiazole, with a deep molecular orbital energy levels, allows us to have a significantly high open-circuit voltages of close to 1 V even with a narrow bandgap of ~1.5 eV, resulting in a markedly small photon energy loss. These findings will provide beneficial guidelines for the development of high-performance π-conjugated polymers for organic solar cells.

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Acknowledgements

The author is grateful to KAKENHI (24685030 and 16H04196) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science and Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PRESTO) and the Advanced Low Carbon Technology Research and Development (ALCA) Programs from Japan Science and Technology Agency for funding. The author thanks Dr. M. Saito, Dr. K. Kawashima, Dr. Y. Tamai, Dr. V. Vohra, Dr. T. Koganezawa, Prof. K. Takimiya, Prof. H. Murata, Prof. H. Yoshida, Prof. Y. Ie, and Prof. H. Ohkita for their collaborative works.

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  1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan

    Itaru Osaka

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  1. Itaru Osaka
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Correspondence to Itaru Osaka .

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  1. Department of Materials Molecular Science, Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan

    Masahiro Hiramoto

  2. Institute for Molecular Science, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan

    Seiichiro Izawa

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Osaka, I. (2021). Polymer Solar Cells: Development of π-Conjugated Polymers with Controlled Energetics and Structural Orders. In: Hiramoto, M., Izawa, S. (eds) Organic Solar Cells. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9113-6_5

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