Oligothiophene-based small molecules with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene central unit for solution-processed organic solar cells

•Two small molecules with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene as the central unit were designed and synthesized.•DRCN6T-F/DRCN8T-F exhibit enhanced intermolecular interactions and lower HOMO levels compared to DRCN6T/DRCN8T.•PCEs of 2.26% and 5.07% were obtained for DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F based optimized devices, respectively.

Two new oligothiophene-based small molecules, namely DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F, with 3,3′-difluoro-2,2′-bithiophene as the central building block and 2-(1,1-dicyanomethylene)-rhodanine as end groups, were designed and synthesized. Compared to their non-fluorinated counterparts DRCN6T and DRCN8T, DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F exhibit enhanced intermolecular interactions and lower HOMO energy levels. However, PCEs of 2.26% and 5.07% were obtained for DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F based optimized devices, respectively, lower than those of non-fluorinated molecules DRCN6T and DRCN8T. The relatively poor performance for the DRCN6T-F and DRCN8T-F were mainly caused by their low short-circuit current densities, due to their unfavorable morphologies and low charge carrier mobilities.

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