Application of A-DA'D-A non-fullerene acceptor with Benzotriazole Core in poly(3-hexylthiophene)-based organic solar cells

The advent of A-DA'D-A non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) containing electron-deficient A′ unit such as benzothiadiazole (BT), benzotriazole (BTA) and quinoxaline (Qx) has driven the significant development of organic solar cells (OSCs) using donor-acceptor (D-A) type polymer as electron donor. However, how to use A-DA'D-A type NFAs to accelerate the development of poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) device is still not determined, because only limited BT-based A-DA'D-A molecules have been used in P3HT-based devices. Herein, a new A-DA'D-A molecule named TPBTA-RCN with BTA as the A′ unit and 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene) rhodanine (RCN) as the A unit was designed. On the basis of our previous report, we concluded here that the terminal group plays a larger role than the central fused A′ unit in regulating charge generation and recombination processes of P3HT:A-DA'D-A-type NFA systems. In summary, we not only demonstrate the broad prospects of A-DA'D-A NFAs to pair with P3HT, but also illustrates further synthetic directions of this kinds of materials, which will greatly facilitate the progress of P3HT-based OSCs.