Disilanobithiophene-dithienylbenzothiadiazole alternating polymer as donor material of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cells

• A new D-A polymer (pDSBT-BHTBT) was used as a host material of BHJ-PSCs.
• The optimization of cell fabrication parameters led to the improvement of cell power conversion efficiency to 3.76%.
• Thin film transistors with a pDSBT-BHTBT film were also fabricated and p-type semiconducting properties were explored.

A donor-acceptor conjugated polymer composed of disilanobithiophene and dithienylbenzothiadiazole (pDSBT-BHTBT) was prepared and used as donor material of bulk heterojunction polymer solar cell with PC71BM as acceptor compound. We report herein the optimization of cell fabrication parameters, namely, the pDSBT-BHTBT:PC71BM ratio and the active layer film thickness, and the improvement of cell power conversion efficiency from 2.54% to 3.76%. Measurements of hole and electron mobilities of pDSBT-BHTBT:PC71BM films revealed relatively low electron mobility. Thin film transistors with a pDSBT-BHTBT film were also fabricated and p-type semiconducting properties were explored.

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