1,8-Naphthalimide-Based Planar Small Molecular Acceptor for Organic Solar Cells

Four small molecular acceptors (SM1–4) comprising a central benzene core, two thiophene bridges and two 1,8-naphthalimide (NI) terminal groups were designed and synthesized by direct C–H activation. SM1 has a planar chemical structure and forms H-aggregation as films. By attachment of different substituents on the central benzene ring, the dihedral angles between the two NI end groups of SM1–4 gradually increased, leading to a gradual decrease of planarity. SM1–4 all possess a high-lying LUMO level, matching with wide band gap (WBG) polymer donors which usually have a high-lying LUMO level. When used in OSCs, devices based on SM1 and WBG donor PCDTBT-C12 gave higher electron mobility, superior film morphology and better photovoltaic performance. After optimization, a PCE of 2.78% with a V oc of 1.04 V was achieved for SM1 based devices, which is among the highest PCEs with a V oc higher than 1 V. Our results have demonstrated that NI based planar small molecules are potential acceptors for WBG polymer based OSCs.