Optical, electrochemical, thermal, and structural properties of synthesized fluorene/dibenzosilole-benzothiadiazole dicarboxylic imide alternating organic copolymers for photovoltaic applications

In this work, four donor–acceptor copolymers, PFDTBTDI-DMO, PFDTBTDI-8, PDBSDTBTDI-DMO, and PDBSDTBTDI-8, based on alternating 2,7-fluorene or 2,7-dibenzosilole flanked by thienyl units, as electron-donor moieties and benzothiadiazole dicarboxylic imide (BTDI) as electron-accepting units, have been designed and synthesized for photovoltaic applications. All polymers were synthesized in good yields via Suzuki polymerization. The impact of attaching two different alkyl chains (3,7-dimethyloctyl vs. n-octyl) to the BTDI units upon the solubilities, molecular weights, optical and electrochemical properties, and thermal and structural properties of the resulting polymers was investigated. PFDTBTDI-8 has the highest number average molecular weight (Mn = 24,900 g·mol−1) among all polymers prepared. Dibenzosilole-based polymers have slightly lower optical band gaps relative to their fluorene-based analogues. All polymers displayed deep-lying HOMO levels. Their HOMO energy levels are unaffected by the nature of either the alkyl substituents or the donor moieties. Similarly, the LUMO levels are almost identical for all polymers. All polymers exhibit excellent thermal stability with Td exceeding 350 °C. X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) studies have shown that all polymers have an amorphous nature in the solid state