Incorporation of furan into low band-gap polymers for efficient solar cells

The design, synthesis, and characterization of the first examples of furan-containing low band-gap polymers, PDPP2FT and PDPP3F, with substantial power conversion efficiencies in organic solar cells are reported. Inserting furan moieties in the backbone of the conjugated polymers enables the use of relatively small solubilizing side chains because of the significant contribution of the furan rings to overall polymer solubility in common organic solvents. Bulk heterojunction solar cells fabricated from furan-containing polymers and PC(71)BM as the acceptor showed power conversion efficiencies reaching 5.0%.