Porphyrinoid materials for organic photovoltaics and near-infrared photodetectors (R-7230)

Organic solar cells (OSCs) represent a thin-film photovoltaic technology offering attractive prospects toward low-cost and aesthetically appealing (colored, flexible, uniform, semi-transparent) solar cells printable on large surfaces. In bulk heterojunction OSCs, electron donor and acceptor molecules are intimately mixed in the photoactive layer. Since 2005, the power conversion efficiency of said devices has increased substantially due to proceeding insights in the underlying physical processes, device optimization and chemical engineering of a vast amount of novel light-harvesting materials, either conjugated polymers or small molecules. As organic photodetectors (OPDs) have very similar requirements, the same semiconducting materials can be of high value for imagers as well. For both OSCs and OPDs there is also a particular interest to extend the absorption window to the near-infrared. As Nature itself has developed porphyrin chromophores for solar light to energy conversion, it seems reasonable to pursue artificial systems based on the same types of molecules. In this project we intend to prepare advanced push-pull type porphyrinoid materials with tunable bandgaps with a particular emphasis on corroles, meso-contracted porphyrin derivatives with a specific coordination behavior and distinct photophysical features by optimized synthetic sequences and evaluate them in OSCs and OPDs, with the specific aim to prepare proof-of-concept devices with competitive performances.

Keywords:SOLAR CELLS

Disciplines:Organic chemistry, Process engineering, Polymeric materials