Synthesis of a tetrazine–quaterthiophene copolymer and its optical, structural and photovoltaic properties

Herein, we report the synthesis of a novel, tetrazine-based conjugated polymer. Tetrazines have the benefit of being strong electron acceptors, while little steric hindrance is imposed on the flanking thiophene rings. Conversion of a suitably substituted nitrile precursor led to 3,6-bis(5-bromo-4-(2-octyldodecyl)thiophen-2-yl)-1,2,4,5-tetrazine (2OD-TTz). Palladium-catalyzed copolymerization of 2OD-TTz with a bithiophene monomer yielded an alternating tetrazine–quaterthiophene copolymer (PTz4T-2OD). The polymer PTz4T-2OD showed an optical band gap of 1.8 eV, a deep HOMO energy level of − 5.58 eV and good solubility. In combination with the non-fullerene acceptor ITIC-F, solar cells with power conversion efficiencies of up to 2.6% were obtained. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s10853-019-03551-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.