Perylene diimide based electron transporting materials for organic solar cells

Abstract

We have designed and synthesized the donor-acceptor functionalized perylene diimide (PDI) derivatives using Sonogashira cross-coupling reaction. The PDI molecules are the class of perylene dyes that shows a strong electron-accepting character with near-infrared (NIR) absorption and low-lying LUMO levels. Donor-acceptor functionalized PDI molecules optimize the performance of optical devices to achieve high Power conversion efficiency as well as advancement in the commercial viability of organic photovoltaics. Researchers have been developing PDI based non-fullerene acceptors (NFAs) in recent years to improve the efficiency and stability of organic solar cells. PDI derivatives has shown great potential for organic solar cells due to excellent NIR absorption and photothermal conversion efficiency. The photophysical and density functional theory (DFT) studies were investigated which show excellent donor-acceptor interaction and tuning of the HOMO-LUMO gap. PDI shows various applications in organic photovoltaics, OLEDs, and OFETs.