This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Electrical & Computer Engineering at ODU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of ODU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Repository Citation Namkoong, Gon; Boland, Patrick; Lee, Keejoo; an...

The effects of the spatial arrangement of the conjugated side chains of two-dimensional polymers on their optical, electrochemical, molecular-packing, and photovoltaic characteristics were investigated. Accordingly, novel polythiophenes with horizontally (PBTTTV-h) and vertically (PBTTTV-v) grafted terthiophene–vinylene (TTV) conjugated side chains were synthesized that display two and one UV-v...

The performance of organic photovoltaic devices is improving steadily and efficiencies have now exceeded 10%. However, the incident solar spectrum still largely remains poorly absorbed. To reduce optical losses, we employed a microlens array (MLA) layer on the side of the glass substrate facing the incident light; this approach does not interfere with the processing of the active-layer. We obse...

Achievement of extremely high stability for inverted-type polymer:fullerene solar cells is reported, which have bulk heterojunction (BHJ) layers consisting of poly[4,8-bis(5-(2-ethylhexyl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene-alt-3-fluorothieno[3,4-b]thiophene-2-carboxylate] (PTB7-Th) and [6,6]-phenyl-C71-butyric acid methyl ester (PC71BM), by employing UV-cut filter (UCF) that is mounte...

A graphene-based porphyrin molecule (GO-TPP) was synthesized by covalent linkage of graphene oxide (GO) with 5-(4-aminophenyl)-10,15,20-triphenyl porphyrin (TPP-NH2). The yielded graphene-based material is a donor-acceptor (D-A) molecule, exhibiting strong intermolecular interactions between the GO core (A) and the covalently anchored porphyrin molecule (D). To demonstrate the universal role of...

We present a straightforward method for the preparation of a novel donor–acceptor block copolymer based on an acceptor block with pendant phenyl-C71-butyric methyl ester (PC71BM) and a regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as a donor. First, a hydroxyl-functionalized polystyrene copolymer with an azide end group was synthesized via nitroxide-mediated radical polymerization (NMRP) and was c...

In ordinary polymer solar cells, the short exciton diffusion length causes increasing probability of electron–hole recombination as the active layer thickness exceeds the diffusion length. Hence, the diffusion sets a thickness limitation of the active layer. ZnO nanorods have been used to provide an advantage of electronic path, making it possible to increase the effective thickness of the acti...

Due to the limited diffusion length of carriers in polymer solar cells (PSCs), the path of carriers is a crucial factor that determines the device performance. Zinc oxide nanorods (NRs) as the electron transport channel can reduce electron-hole recombination and transport the electron to the electrode efficiently for poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT), but have been seldom demonstrated for low-bandg...

Two new alkoxylphenyl substituted thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran (TBFP)-based polymers (PTBFP-BT and PTBFP-BO) were designed and synthesized. Their structures were verified by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, the molecular weights were determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and the thermal properties were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The two polymers showe...

Ladder-type conjugated structures with rigid and coplanar molecular frameworks feature longer effective conjugation, affirmative optoelectronic properties and strong intermolecular π-π interactions, which are ideal characteristics for organic photovoltaics. Here, a new "zigzag" angular-fused naphthodifuran (zNDF) based on alkoxyphenyl side chains was designed and synthesized. The distannylated ...