Benzoselenadiazole-core asymmetric D-A-A small molecule for solution processed bulk heterojunction organic solar cells

The present work is accounted on the designing of a new and efficient asymmetric organic chromophore, named 4-(3,5-bis [trifluoromethyl] phenyl)-7-(5′-hexyl-[2,2′-bithiophen]-5-yl)-benzo[c [1, 2, 5]selenadiazole, (RT-BSe-F), based on benzoselenadiazole central acceptor building blocks. The acceptor unit of 3,5-bis (trifluoromethyl) benzene and donor unit of alkyl bithiophene attached with benzoselenadiazole central unit showed large impacts on the optical and electrochemical properties. The reasonable optical band gap of ~2.02 eV and HOMO of −5.33 eV were obtained by RT-BSe-F chromophore due to a strong electron accepting nature of fluorine based compound. With 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl) benzene unit, the absorption of RT-BSe-F chromophore was considerably increased to higher wavelength which might enhance the crystallinity of thin film with high hole mobility. RT-BSe-F chromophore was effectively applied to fabricate the solution-processed bulk-heterojunction organic solar cells (BHJ-OSCs) and attained a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of ~3.75% accompanying high J_SC of ~12.56 mA cm⁻², FF of ~0.42 and V_OC of ~0.71 V. The obtained high PCE might be associated to a high surface energy of TiO₂ layer as buffer and the use of high mobility organic RT-BSe-F chromophore.