Modification of a donor-acceptor photovoltaic polymer by integration of optoelectronic moieties into its side chains

In this study, a strategy to modify photovoltaic properties of a known material by integrating certain optoelectronic moieties in its side chains has been described. Thus, a plenty of single and dendritic carbazole units were introduced into the side chains of poly(2,7-(9,9-dialkyl-fluorene)-alt-5,5'-(4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)) (PFDTBT), a famous donor-acceptor alternative conjugated polymer, to see what and how they can change the latter optoelectronic properties. It was found that such modifications not only increase the polymer light-harvesting capabilities in the UV region, but also enhance hole mobility in the pure film state. Furthermore, complicated photophysical and photochemical processes, including energy transfer, electron transfer and site-isolation effect, were observed to take place between carbazole units and the PFDTBT conjugated backbone. These factors work comprehensively and finally improve the polymer photovoltaic properties when modified with single carbazole units, but deteriorate when modified with dendritic carbazole units. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.