Synthesis and Optoelectronic Applications of dπ -pπ Conjugated Polymers with a Di-metallaaromatic Acceptor

Shiyan Chen; Lingwei Feng; Lixia Peng; Xiang Gao; Yongfa Zhu; Liulin Yang; Dafa Chen; Kai Zhang; Xugang Guo; Fei Huang; Haiping Xia

doi:10.1002/anie.202305489

Synthesis and Optoelectronic Applications of d_π -p_π Conjugated Polymers with a Di-metallaaromatic Acceptor

Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2023 Aug 7;62(32):e202305489. doi: 10.1002/anie.202305489. Epub 2023 Jun 29.

Authors

Shiyan Chen¹, Lingwei Feng², Lixia Peng³, Xiang Gao³, Yongfa Zhu³, Liulin Yang³, Dafa Chen¹, Kai Zhang², Xugang Guo⁴, Fei Huang², Haiping Xia¹

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Grubbs Institute and Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.
² Institute of Polymer Optoelectronic Materials and Devices, State Key Laboratory of Luminescent Materials and Devices, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, 510640, China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of Solid Surfaces and Collaborative Innovation Center of Chemistry for Energy Materials (iChEM), College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, 518055, China.

PMID: 37310692
DOI: 10.1002/anie.202305489

Abstract

The development of conjugated polymers especially n-type polymer semiconductors is powered by the design and synthesis of electron-deficient building blocks. Herein, a strong acceptor building block with di-metallaaromatic structure was designed and synthesized by connecting two electron-deficient metallaaromatic units through a π-conjugated bridge. Then, a double-monomer polymerization methodology was developed for inserting it into conjugated polymer scaffolds to yield metallopolymers. The isolated well-defined model oligomers indicated polymer structures. Kinetic studies based on nuclear magnetic resonance and ultraviolet-visible spectroscopies shed light on the polymerization process. Interestingly, the resulted metallopolymers with d_π -p_π conjugations are very promising electron transport layer materials which can boost photovoltaic performance of an organic solar cell, with power conversion efficiency up to 18.28 % based on the PM6 : EH-HD-4F non-fullerene system. This work not only provides a facile route to construct metallaaromatic conjugated polymers with various functional groups, but also discovers their potential applications for the first time.

Keywords: Acceptor; Electron-Deficient Building Blocks; Metallopolymers; Organic Solar Cells; n-Type Polymers.

Abstract

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