Terminal group engineering of oligothiophene donors for efficient organic solar cells

All-small-molecule organic solar cells exhibit high reproducibility than polymer-based cells. Benzodithiophene and oligothiophene based derivatives are the most widely studied small molecule donors. The lower synthetic complexity and superior stability make oligothiophene based derivatives more promising for large scale production. Recently, a thiazole-centered oligothiophene donor Tz6T yields a high efficiency but deserves further improving. Substitution of halogen atoms on the end groups is proven to affect molecular packing through various non-covalent intermolecular interactions. Here we adopt terminal group engineering to regulate the optoelectronic properties of Tz6T. Through chlorine substitution, highest efficiency (9.60 %) is achieved in Tz6T-PH-Cl-4: eC9-4F binary device. Our results shed light on the structure-function relationship, and provide valuable insights into the regulation of phase separation.