The effect of perylene diimides chemical structure on the photovoltaic performance of P3HT/perylene diimides solar cells

•D-A-D n-type perylene diimide bases materials for organic solar cells are presented.•PDI-SF and PDI-BSF were used as acceptors in organic solar cells.•Performances of 1.58% were achieved in blend with P3HT in a BHJ conventional architecture.

Core substituted perylene diimides are promising n-type semiconductor materials for organic photovoltaic applications. We have prepared three Donor-Acceptor-Donor perylene diimide molecules, substituted in bay positions with bithiophene, spirobifluorene and bithiophene spirobifluorene groups. These molecules were tested as electron acceptors, in blend with P3HT as donor material, in bulk heterojunction solar cells. The active layers of these devices were optimized by thermal treatment or by the presence of additives and the photovoltaic characteristics were measured. The photovoltaic performances of the three perylene diimides were studied and discussed through absorption and emission spectroscopy characterization, atomic force microscopy morphology study and charge-carrier transport measurements.