DFT study of the effect of fluorine atoms on the crystal structure and semiconducting properties of poly(arylene-ethynylene) derivatives

Boosting the Performance of Diketopyrrolopyrrole-Triphenylamine-Based Organic Solar Cells via π-Linker Engineering

The design and development of novel and efficient donor-π-acceptor (D-π-A) type conjugated systems has attracted substantial interest in the field of organic electronics owing to their intriguing properties. In this paper, we have designed seven new and efficient D-π-A type conjugated systems (M1-M7) by a variety of π-linkers with triphenylamine (TPA) as the electron donor and diphenyldiketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) as the electron acceptor using density functional theory (DFT) formalism for organic solar cells (OSCs). The π-linker has been substituted between the donor and acceptor for efficient electron transfer. Here, our primary focus is on narrowing the highest occupied molecular orbital-lowest unoccupied molecular orbital gaps, electronic transition, charge transfer rate, reorganization energies, and the theoretical power conversion efficiencies (PCEs). Our study reveals that the designed compounds exhibit excellent charge transfer rates. The absorption properties of the compounds have been examined using the time-dependent density functional theory (TD-DFT) method. The TD-DFT study shows that compound M2 possesses the highest absorption maxima with a maximum bathochromic shift. For a better understanding of the electron transport process of our designed compounds, we have designed donor/acceptor (D/A) blends, and each of the developed blends (FREA/M1-M7) can encourage charge carrier separation. According to the photovoltaic performance of the D/A blends, compound FREA-M2, which has a theoretical PCE of 16.53%, is the most appealing choice for use in OSCs. We expect that by thoroughly examining the relationship between structure, characteristics, and performance, this work will serve as a roadmap for future research and development of TPA-DPP-based photovoltaic materials.

Theoretical investigation of fused N-methyl-dithieno-pyrrole derivatives in the context of acceptor-donor-acceptor approach

In this work we have theoretically investigated the optoelectronic properties of a series of acceptor-donor-acceptor type molecules by employing density functional theory formalism. We have used 1,1-dicyano-methylene-3-indanone as the acceptor unit and a fused N-methyl-dithieno-pyrrole as the donor unit. We have calculated the values of dihedral angle, inter-ring bond length, bond length alteration parameters, HOMO-LUMO gap, ionization potential, electron affinity, partial density of states, reorganization energies for holes and electrons, charge transfer rate for holes and electrons of the seven types of compounds designed via molecular engineering. Calculated IP and EA values manifest that PBDB-C2 shows excellent charge transportation compared to others. Absorption spectra of the designed compounds have been studied using the time-dependent density functional theory method. From the calculation of reorganization energy it is confirmed that our designed molecules behave more likely as donor materials. Our calculated results also reveal that compounds with electron donating substituents at the acceptor units show higher value of λ max. Absorption spectra of donor/acceptor blends show similar trends with the isolated compounds. Observed lower exciton binding energy values for all the compounds indicate facile charge carrier separation at the donor/acceptor interface. Moreover, the negative values of Gibb's free energy change also indicate the ease of exciton dissociation of all the designed compounds. The photovoltaic characteristics of the studied compounds infer that all the designed compounds have the potential to become suitable candidate for the fabrication of organic semiconductors. However, PBDB-C2 and PBDB-C4 with the highest PCE of 18.25% can become the best candidate for application in photovoltaics.

Computational study on the optical and NLO properties of donor–acceptor interaction molecules containing a triazolobenzothiadiazole or benzothiadiazole central acceptor core

The nonlinear optical properties of the studied compounds were studied with the aid of DFT calculations.

Rational Design of Bay-Annulated Indigo (BAI)-Based Oligomers for Bulk Heterojunction Organic Solar Cells: A Density Functional Theory (DFT) Study

In this paper, we have designed a series of oligomers based on the donor-acceptor concept. Here, acceptor bay-annulated indigo (BAI) dye and donor N-methyl-4,5-diazacarbazole (DAC) are joined by a thiophene linkage. We have substituted the 5th and 5'th positions of the acceptor unit and the 2nd position of the donor unit with various electron-withdrawing and electron-donating groups to study various structural and electronic properties of the compounds. In this regard, we have calculated the dihedral angle, distortion energy, bond length alteration (BLA) parameters, bang gap (Δ _H - L ) values, partial density of states (PDOS), electrostatic potential (ESP) surface analysis, reorganization energy, charge transfer rates, hopping mobility values, and absorption spectra of the compounds. The ESP plots of the compounds indicate significant charge separation in the studied compounds. Our study manifests that the designed compounds are prone to facile charge transport.

Unveiling the Photophysical Properties of Boron Heptaaryldipyrromethene Derivatives

Increased interest has been devoted to the discovery of multifunctional materials with desirable properties, as continuous performance enhancement of various devices mainly depends on high-performance materials. Now, density functional theory has become a powerful tool to design new materials and rationalize experimental observations. In this work, we explored the photophysical properties origin of chiral boron heptaaryldipyrromethene (heptaaryl-BODIPY), which has charming optoelectronic properties. At the same time, we designed the other five compounds on the basis of heptaaryl-BODIPY. The simulated electronic absorption and emission spectra of heptaaryl-BODIPY are in agreement with experimental ones, allowing us to reliably assign its electronic transition property. The designed compound 6 shows remarkably large first hyperpolarizability value up to 82.78×10^-30  esu. For this kind of compounds, their NLO response values associate with not only position but also electronic nature of substituent groups. Moreover, electron reorganization energies of compounds 1-4 are comparable to tris(8-hydroxyquinolinato)aluminium(III) which is a typical electron transport material. Intriguingly, the studied compounds are the excellent fluorescent probe materials from the standpoint of large Stokes shift and high emission efficiency. Our work enables an opportunity for understanding the relationship between microelectronic structure and macroscopic performance of BODIPY derivatives.