Synthesis of new conjugated copolymers containing 4,8-bis(dodecyloxy)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene/5,7-bis(3,4-diethylthien-2-yl)-2,3-diphenylthieno[3,4-b]pyrazine and 4,8-bis(dodecyloxy)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene/4,6-di(3,4-diethylthien-2-yl)-thieno[3,4-c][1,2,5]thiadiazole derivatives for photovoltaic applications

Two new donor-acceptor narrow-band-gap photovoltaic copolymers containing various electron-acceptor functional groups, such as thienopyrazine and thienodithiazole derivatives, are synthesized under the conditions of the Suzuki polycondensation reaction and characterized via 1 H NMR spectroscopy and GPC. The optical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of the polymers are examined in detail. Both copolymers have good solubilities, high thermal stabilities, broad absorption regions (350–950 nm), relatively low levels of the highest occupied molecular orbital (−5.01 and −5.02 eV for polymers I and II , respectively), and narrow band gaps (1.31 and 1.41 eV, respectively). Photovoltaic devices based on a polymer- II -PC 60 BM (1: 3, wt/wt) mixture under AM 1.5 irradiation of 100 mV/cm 2 exhibit a power-conversion efficiency of ∼0.29%, a short-circuit current of 1.45 mA/cm 2 , an open-circuit voltage of V oc = 0.67 V, and a fill factor of 0.30. These results are evidence that thienopyrazine functional groups are attractive as electron-acceptor building blocks in organic electronics.