Effects of subtle change in side chains on the photovoltaic performance of small molecular donors for solar cells

Small-molecule organic solar cells (SMOSCs) have attracted considerable attention owing to the merits of small molecules, such as easy purification, well-defined chemical structure. To achieve high-performance SMOSCs, the rational design of well-matched donor and acceptor materials is extremely essential. In this work, two new small molecular donor materials with subtle change in the conjugated side thiophene rings are synthesized. The subtle change significantly affects the photovoltaic performance of molecular donors. Compared with chlorinated molecule MDJ-Cl, the non-chlorinated analogue MDJ exhibits decreased miscibility with the non-fullerene acceptor Y6, can more efficiently quench the excitons of Y6. As a result, a improved PCE of 11.16% is obtained for MDJ:Y6 based SMOSCs. The results highlight the importance of fine-tuning the molecular structure to achieve high-performance SMOSCs. (C) 2022 Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Chinese Chemical Society and Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.