Conjugated polymers with benzothiadiazole, benzoxadiazole, and benzotriazole moieties as promising semiconductor materials for organic solar cells

Organic solar cells are being intensively developed in many laboratories around the world. This work has resulted in a rapid increase in the efficiency of organic solar cells; record figures of 10–12% were achieved in 2011–2013. This review focuses on one of the most promising groups of conjugated polymers: those containing electron-deficient units based on benzothiadiazole, benzoxadiazole, and benzotriazole in the backbone. Particular attention is paid to the optoelectronic characteristics (the HOMO energy and band gap) and the photovoltaic characteristics of conjugated copolymers containing various structural units in their molecular structures.