Investigation of the Effect of Substituents on Electronic and Charge Transport Properties of Benzothiazole Derivatives

A series of new benzothiazole-derived donor-acceptor-based compounds (Comp1-4) were synthesized and characterized with the objective of tuning their multifunctional properties, i.e., charge transport, electronic, and optical. All the proposed structural formulations (Comp1-4) were commensurate using FTIR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR, ESI-mass, UV-vis, and elemental analysis techniques. The effects of the electron-donating group (-CH3) and electron-withdrawing group (-NO2) on the optoelectronic and charge transfer properties were studied. The substituent effect on absorption was calculated at the TD-B3LYP/6-31+G** level in the gas and solvent phases. The effect of solvent polarity on the absorption spectra using various polar and nonpolar solvents, i.e., ethanol, acetone, DMF, and DMSO was investigated. Light was shed on the charge transport in benzothiazole compounds by calculating electron affinity, ionization potential, and reorganization energies. Furthermore, the synthesized compounds were used to prepare thin films on the FTO substrate to evaluate the charge carrier mobility and other related device parameters with the help of I-V characteristic measurements.

Tuning of optoelectronic properties of triphenylamines-based donor materials for organic solar cells

In the present study, four molecules have been designed by substituting various acceptor moieties around the triphenylamine donor moiety like 2-cyano acrylic acid (R), 2-methylene malonitrile (M1), 2-cyano acrylic acid methyl ester(M2), 2-(2-methylene-3-oxo-indan-1-ylidene)-malonitrile (M3), 2-(6,7-difluoro-2-methylene-3-oxo-indan-1-ylidene)-malonitrile (M4), respectively. CAM-B3LYP/6-31G (d, p) level of theory by using density functional theory (DFT) has been used for the investigation of optoelectronic properties of four new triphenylamine (TPA)-based donor materials (M1–M4) for organic solar cells. In comparison with the recently reported reference molecule, the optoelectronic properties of designed molecules were evaluated. M4 showed absorption maxima at 520[Formula: see text]nm due to extended conjugation with bridged thiophene group. Results of reorganization energy calculations also favor M4 exhibiting highest transfer rate of hole as depicted from its low reorganization energy of hole ([Formula: see text].

Exploring the Photovoltaic Properties of Metal Bipyridine Complexes (Metal = Fe, Zn, Cr, and Ru) by Density Functional Theory

The synthesis and characterisation of mononuclear Fe complexes were carried out by using bipyridine (Compound 1) at ambient conditions. Additionally, three more derivatives were designed by substituting the central Fe metal with Zn, Cr, and Ru (Compound 2, Compound 3, and Compound 4), respectively. The ground state geometry calculations were carried out by using density functional theory (DFT) at B3LYP/6-31G** (LANL2DZ) level of theory. We shed light on the frontier molecular orbitals, electronic properties, photovoltaic parameters, and structure–property relationship. The open-circuit voltage is a promising parameter that considerably affects the photovoltaic performance; thus, we have estimated its value by considering the complexes as donors whereas TiO2 and/or Si were used as acceptors. The solar cell performance behaviour was also studied by shedding light on the band alignment and energy level offset.

A first-principles study of the linear and nonlinear optical properties of isoxazole derivatives

The isoxazole derivatives gained significant attention in our daily life from better biological activity to the semiconducting materials. This study deals in depth investigation of two isoxazole derivatives, i.e. 2-[(E)-(3,4-Dimethylisoxazol-5-yl)iminomethyl]phenol (1) and 1-[(E)-(3,4-Dimethylisoxazol-5-yl)iminomethyl]-2-naphthol (2) with respect to the geometric, charge transport, optoelectronic and nonlinear optical properties by density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT. The comprehensible intra-molecular charge transfer (ICT) was conceived from HOMOs to LUMOs. Strength of the electron donor groups was investigated on the absorption wavelengths, emission wavelengths, ionization potentials (IPs), electron affinities (EAs), total/partial densities of states and structure-property relationship. The smaller hole reorganization energies and superior transfer integrals of isoxazole derivatives (1 and 2) than the electron ones are leading to higher hole intrinsic mobility values as compared to the electron mobility exhibit that these systems would be good hole transport contenders. The first hyperpolarizability values are about 19 and 21 times larger than that of urea suggesting that 1 and 2 can also be considered as potential contestants for NLO applications as well.