Development of Novel Conjugated Donor Polymers for High-Efficiency Bulk-Heterojunction Photovoltaic Devices

Solar cells are one attractive method for harnessing inexhaustible clean energy from the sun. Organic photovoltaic technology is emerging as a potential competitor to silicon-based photovoltaic cells (PVCs), and their power conversion efficiencies (PCE) can now exceed 6%. Polymeric bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) PVCs, whose photoactive layer is composed of a blend of bicontinuous and interpenetrating donors and acceptors, can maximize interfacial area between the donor and the acceptor. Classic polymer donors, such as dialkoxy-substituted poly(para-phenylene vinylene)s (PPVs) and poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), have been widely investigated. However, advances in synthetic methodology provide new avenues for the…