Density functional theory design and characterization of D–A–A type electron donors with narrow band gap for small-molecule organic solar cells

4,7-Di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine

Donor–acceptor–donor (D–A–D)-type molecules are considered as a promising class of NIR fluorescence materials. In this communication, 4,7-di(9H-carbazol-9-yl)-[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine was obtained by dehydrogenation of 4,7-bis(1,2,3,4,4a,9a-hexahydro-9H-carbazol-9-yl)-[1,2,5]oxadiazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine with 2,3-dichloro-5,6-dicyano-1,4-benzoquinone in toluene. The structure of the synthesized compound was established by elemental analysis; high-resolution mass spectrometry; 1H, 13C NMR, IR, and UV spectroscopy; and mass spectrometry. The photophysical properties of the title compound were studied and compared with spectral data of the [1,2,5]thiadiazolo[3,4-d]pyridazine analogue.

Photophysical Properties of BODIPY Derivatives for the Implementation of Organic Solar Cells: A Computational Approach

Solar cells based on organic compounds are a proven emergent alternative to conventional electrical energy generation. Here, we provide a computational study of power conversion efficiency optimization of boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY) derivatives by means of their associated open-circuit voltage, short-circuit density, and fill factor. In doing so, we compute for the derivatives' geometrical structures, energy levels of frontier molecular orbitals, absorption spectra, light collection efficiencies, and exciton binding energies via density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD)-DFT calculations. We fully characterize four D-π-A (BODIPY) molecular systems of high efficiency and improved J _sc that are well suited for integration into bulk heterojunction (BHJ) organic solar cells as electron-donor materials in the active layer. Our results are twofold: we found that molecular complexes with a structural isoxazoline ring exhibit a higher power conversion efficiency (PCE), a useful result for improving the BHJ current, and, on the other hand, by considering the molecular systems as electron-acceptor materials, with P3HT as the electron donor in the active layer, we found a high PCE compound favorability with a pyrrolidine ring in its structure, in contrast to the molecular systems built with an isoxazoline ring. The theoretical characterization of the electronic properties of the BODIPY derivatives provided here, computed with a combination of ab initio methods and quantum models, can be readily applied to other sets of molecular complexes to hierarchize optimal power conversion efficiency.

Designing of near-infrared sensitive asymmetric small molecular donors for high-efficiency organic solar cells

Herein, we have designed four small molecular donors (SMDs) with Donor–Acceptor–Acceptor (D–Á–A) backbone having different acceptor units for highly efficient organic solar cells (OSCs). The specific molecular modeling has been made by replacing the additional acceptor unit (A) of recently synthesized TPA-DAA-MDN molecule (R) by employing different highly efficient acceptor units in order to improve the photovoltaic performances of the molecules. A theoretical approach (DFT and TD-DFT) has been applied to investigate the photophysical, opto-electronic and photovoltaic parameters of the designed molecules (DAA1–DAA4) and compared with the reference molecule (R). The red-shifting absorption of SMDs is the most important factor for highly efficient OSCs. Our all formulated molecules showed a red shifted absorption spectrum and also exhibit near IR sensitivity. Acceptor unit modification of R molecule causes reduction in HOMO-LUMO energy gap; therefore, all designed molecules offer better opto-electronic properties as compared to R molecule. A variety of certain critical factors essential for efficient SMDs like frontier molecular orbitals (FMOs), absorption maxima, dipole moment, exciton binding energy along with transition density matrix, excitation energy, open circuit voltages and charge mobilities of (DAA1–DAA4) and R have also been investigated. Generally, low values of reorganizational energy (hole and electron) offer high charge mobility and our all designed molecules are enriched in this aspect. High open circuit voltage values, low excitation energies, large dipole moment values indicate that our designed SMDs are suitable candidates for high-efficiency OSCs. Furthermore, conceptualized molecules are superior and thus are suggested to experimentalist for out-looking future progresses of highly efficient OSCs devices.

Fine Structural Tuning of Thieno[3,2- b] Pyrrole Donor for Designing Banana-Shaped Semiconductors Relevant to Organic Field Effect Transistors

On the basis of the newly synthesized banana-shaped thieno[3,2- b] pyrrole building block [Bulumulla, C.; Gunawardhana, R.; Kularatne, R. N.; Hill, M. E.; McCandless, G. T.; Biewer, M. C.; Stefan, M. C. Thieno[3,2- b] pyrrole-Benzothiadiazole Banana-Shaped Small Molecules for Organic Field Effect Transistors. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 2018, 10, 11818-11825], several small molecules that can be used as organic semiconducting materials were theoretically designed. We have shown that these novel molecules with the donor-π conjugated bridge-acceptor-π conjugated bridge-donor (D-π-A-π-D) building block exhibit superior charge transport properties in organic field-effect transistors (OFETs). A variety of donors, π-bridges, and acceptors are examined, and the structural, electronic, optical, and charge transport properties of designed semiconductors are systematically investigated. The results highlight the impact of the core acceptor in improving the transport properties of the designed molecules. In particular, this work points toward the benzo-bis(1,2,5-thiadiazole) as the most promising acceptor that can be combined with thiophene π-bridge and flanked benzo-thiadiazole terminal units to produce a reasonable candidate for synthesis and for incorporating into OFET materials. For the suggested semiconductor, the small electron reorganization energy and large intramolecular coupling originating from dense π-stacking gave rise to enhanced electron mobility. This strategy can be helpful for further improving the performance of curved small molecules in field-effect devices.

Theoretical study on the structure–property relationship of D–A–π–A-type dye-sensitized solar cells: π-bridge and the side alkyl chain

Two series of dyes have been designed and theoretically characterized through density functional theory and time-dependent density functional theory to systematically explore the structure–property relationship of dyes with D–A–π–A architecture and the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells, particularly the influence of the π-bridge, including its alkyl side chain, adding additional conjugate spacer, displacement, and separation of π-bridge. Key parameters associated with the short-circuit current density Jsc and open-circuit photovoltage Voc were characterized and analyzed in detail. All of the analysis results manifest that dye H1 should be the best candidate to fabricate dye-sensitized solar cells owing to the best optical absorption property (a broad absorption band from 300 to 900 nm for adsorbed dye) and other outstanding parameters.

The nature of excited states in dipolar donor/fullerene complexes for organic solar cells: evolution with the donor stack size

Electronic delocalization at donor/acceptor (D/A) interfaces can play an important role in photocurrent generation for organic solar cells. Here, we have investigated the nature of local excited and interfacial charge transfer (CT) states in model complexes including one to four anti-parallel stacking dipolar donor (DTDCTB) molecules and one fullerene (C60) molecule by means of density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT). For all the donor-to-acceptor CT states, despite the number of DTDCTB molecules in the complexes, the hole is mainly localized on a single DTDCTB, and moves farther away from C60 for the energy higher level. However, the highest occupied molecular orbitals (HOMOs) and the excitonic states (EX) including the bright and dark EX are delocalized over the whole donor stacks in the complexes. This implies that the formation of ordered DTDCTB arrangements can substantially shorten the exciton diffusion process and facilitate ultrafast charge generation. Interestingly, owing to strong intermolecular Coulomb attraction, the donor-to-donor CT states are situated below the local excited states, but can approach the donor-to-acceptor CT states, indicating a weak role as charge traps. Our work would be helpful for understanding the electronic delocalization effects in organic solar cells.