Structure influence of alkyl chains of thienothiophene-porphyrins on the performance of organic solar cells

Abstract Two new A-D-A porphyrin derivatives, denoted as XLP-I and XLP-II, were prepared through extending the π-conjugation of thienothiophene-porphyrin center with phenylethynyl bridges and electron-deficient ethylrhodanine terminal units, and varying the structures of alkyl chain (linear vs branched) on peripheral thienothiophene substitutions of porphyrin rings. Both molecules show strong absorption in UV–visible–near-infrared region, good thermal stability, suitable energy levels, and ordered molecular packing in solid state. In organic solar cells, PC71BM was used as electron acceptor, and porphyrin small molecules were used as electron donors. The device based on XLP-I exhibits a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.30%, an open circuit voltage (Voc) of 0.894 ​eV, and a fill factor (FF) of 62.1%. In contrast, the device based on XLP-II presents an inferior performance with a PCE of 3.14%, a Voc of 0.847 ​eV, and a FF of 49.3%. The better performance of XLP-I based device is mainly attributed to its optimized film morphology, excellent absorption, and well-balanced charge transport properties.