New naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b′]difuran based two-dimensional conjugated small molecules for photovoltaic application

Abstract Two new A–D–A small molecules with alkoxyphenyl and alkylthiophenyl-substituted naphtho[1,2-b:5,6-b′]difuran (NDF) as the central building block named NDFPO-DPP and NDFPS-DPP were synthesized and firstly used as donor materials in organic solar cells (OSCs). The effects of the alkoxyphenyl and alkylthiophenyl side chains on the NDF unit have been investigated. With a single atom variation from O to S, NDFPS-DPP exhibited lower HOMO energy levels than its counterpart NDFPO-DPP, which resulted in enhanced V oc . The device based on NDFPO-DPP with thermal annealing exhibited a better PCE of 3.10% due to the higher and more balanced hole and electron mobilities. The investigations show that NDF could be a promising building block in OSCs via rational molecular structure design and device optimizations.