Significantly improved photovoltaic performances of the dithiophene-benzothiadiazole-alt-fluorene copolymers by incorporating carbazole units in fluorene moiety

To exploit an effective way to improve polymeric photovoltaic performance, a series of dithiophene-benzothiadiazole-alt-fluorene copolymers containing carbazole groups at C-9 positions of the alternating fluorene units (PFO-FCz-DBT) were synthesized and characterized. The effect of the carbazole groups on the optophysical, electrochemical, and photovoltaic properties of these copolymers was investigated. By comparison, this type of copolymers with carbazole units exhibited significantly improved photovoltaic properties than poly(2,7-(9,9-dioctyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5-(4′,7′-di-2-thienyl-2′,1′,3′-benzothiadiazole) (PFO-DBT) in the bulk heterojunction solar cells. A maximum power-conversion efficiency (PCE) of 2.41% and a highest short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 9.68 mA cm−2 were obtained for the PFO-FCz-DBT30, which are about two times higher than the corresponding levels for the PFO-DBT30. This work demonstrated that introducing a hole-transporting carbazole unit into copolymer is a simple and effective method to improve the Jsc and PCE. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2011