Fullerene Derivatives as Components for ‘Plastic’ Photovoltaic Cells

Derivatives of [60]fullerene, mixed with conducting polymers to yield donor-acceptor bulk-heterojunction (β-junction) materials, are useful in ‘plastic’ photovoltaic devices. In order to enhance the charge carrier mobilities in the two individual interpenetrating networks, one important goal of our work is to obtain more (supra) molecular order in the β-junction. The second goal is to obtain control over the scale of the phase segregation. A third goal is to lower the percolation threshold of the fullerene component. The preparation and characterization of a first series of [60]fullerene derivatives (polymer-compatible derivatives, supramolecular building blocks, D-A network units) is discussed.