Steady Enhancement in Photovoltaic Properties of Fluorine Functionalized Quinoxaline-Based Narrow Bandgap Polymer

To investigate the influence of fluoride phenyl side-chains onto a quinoxaline (Qx) unit on the photovoltaic performance of the narrow bandgap (NBG) photovoltaic polymers, herein, two novel NBG copolymers, PBDTT-DTQx and PBDTT-DTmFQx, were synthesized and characterized. 2-ethylhexylthiothiophene-substituted benzodithiophene (BDTT), 2,3-diphenylquinoxaline (DQx) [or 2,3-bis(3-fluorophenyl)quinoxaline (DmFQx)] and 2-ethylhexylthiophene (T) were used as the electron donor (D) unit, electron-withdrawing acceptor (A) unit and π-bridge, respectively. Compared to non-fluorine substituted PBDTT-DTQx, fluoride PBDTT-DTmFQx exhibited a wide UV-Vis absorption spectrum and high hole mobility. An enhanced short-circuit current (J(sc)) and fill factor (FF) simultaneously gave rise to favorable efficiencies in the polymer/PC(71)BM-based polymer solar cells (PSCs). Under the illumination of AM 1.5G (100 mW cm(−2)), a maximum power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.40% was achieved with an open-circuit voltage (V(oc)) of 0.87 V, a J(sc) of 12.0 mA cm(−2) and a FF of 61.45% in PBDTT-DTmFQx/PC(71)BM-based PSCs, while PBDTT-DTQx-based devices also exhibited a PCE of 5.43%. The excellent results obtained demonstrate that PBDTT-DTmFQx by fluorine atom engineering could be a promising candidate for organic photovoltaics.