Heterologous perylene diimide arrays: potential non-fullerene acceptors in organic solar cells

A new family of perylene diimide (PDI) arrays, heterologous ones (di-PDI and tri-PDI), were designed and efficiently synthesized by Suzuki cross-coupling reactions using two heterologous PDI monomers with different positions of bay- and ortho-substitution, respectively. The compounds exhibit unique photophysical and electrochemical properties and were successfully applied in non-fullerene organic solar cells with a superior power conversion efficiency of 4.55% for tri-PDI.