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Design of Random and Semi‐Random Conjugated Polymers for Organic Solar Cells
Author(s) -
Howard Jenna B.,
Thompson Barry C.
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
macromolecular chemistry and physics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.57
H-Index - 112
eISSN - 1521-3935
pISSN - 1022-1352
DOI - 10.1002/macp.201700255
Subject(s) - materials science , organic solar cell , polymer , copolymer , conjugated system , acceptor , polymer solar cell , band gap , thiophene , ternary operation , polymer chemistry , chemical physics , nanotechnology , chemistry , optoelectronics , organic chemistry , computer science , physics , composite material , programming language , condensed matter physics
Significant effort has been devoted to the improvement of organic solar cell performance via the optimization of polymer structure. The expanding scope of conjugated polymer design extends from novel monomers to side‐chain and backbone engineering. These efforts target desired properties for optimal organic photovoltaic performance, including electronic aspects such as optical band gaps, frontier orbital levels, and charge carrier mobilities, as well as physical aspects such as surface energy. Perfectly alternating, donor‐acceptor copolymers represent the state‐of‐the‐art, having low band gaps and demonstrating record efficiencies. However, recent reports indicate significant potential by introducing some degree of randomization to donor‐acceptor copolymers. Specifically, semi‐random copolymers have demonstrated promising photovoltaic performance through incorporation of small ratios of acceptor monomers into a donor‐dominant polymer backbone. Semi‐random polymers have also been found uniquely suited to the optimization of ternary blend solar cells, which benefit from highly tunable randomized structures by means of energy level matching, complementary optical absorption, and directed polymer‐polymer miscibility via surface energy tuning. In this trend article the scope of random and semi‐random polymers, many based on poly(3‐hexyl thiophene), is explored, primarily in the context of solar cell applications. Distinctions between regimes of random copolymers are also defined and discussed.