Towards the development of benzobisoxazole and naphthodifuran based organic semiconductors for organic solar cells
Date
2020
DOI
Authors
Burney-Allen, Alfred Alexander
Version
Embargo Date
2021-03-17
OA Version
Citation
Abstract
Currently, there is significant interest in the development of organic semiconductors for use in, for example, energy production. Integration of organic semiconductors into organic solar cells (OSCs) enables optimization of optical and electronic properties via chemical synthesis as well as solution processability. Due to reduced production costs, OSCs are being evaluated as potential alternatives to their inorganic counterparts. Although, there is already substantial work on OSCs, a detailed understanding of performance versus composition, film forming capability, and morphology are still lacking. Benzobisoxazoles (BBOs) are a unique class of organic semiconductors as the optical and electronic properties are tunable along two conjugation axis. This intrinsic characteristic of BBO presents an opportunity to develop an understanding of the structure - property relationships within BBO based materials and utilize them as potential donor material for OSCs.
Similarly, naphthodifuran (NDF) has a rigid coplanar structure that exhibit improved charge carrier mobilities and efficiencies in OSCs. These semiconducting materials are weak donors and when incorporated into weak donor – strong acceptor molecular design motifs lead towards improved efficiencies in OSCs. Herein, the design, synthesis, and/or photovoltaic device optimization of BBO and NDF semiconducting based properties OSCs are discussed by the author of this dissertation.