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Conjugated polymers containing B←N unit as electron acceptors for all-polymer solar cells

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Abstract

Polymer electron acceptors are the key materials in all-polymer solar cells (all-PSCs). In this review, we focused on introducing the principle of boron-nitrogen coordination bond (B←N), and summarizing our recent research on polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit for efficient all-PSC devices. Two approaches have been reported to design polymer electron acceptors using B←N unit. The one is to replace a C–C unit by a B←N unit in conjugated polymers to transform a polymer electron donor to a polymer electron acceptor. The other approach is to construct novel electron-deficient building block based on B←N unit for polymer electron acceptors. The polymer electron acceptors containing B←N unit showed tunable lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels and exhibited excellent all-PSC device performance with power conversion efficiency of exceeding 6%. These results indicate that organic boron chemistry is a new toolbox to develop functional polymer materials for optoelectronic device applications.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Program of China (2014CB643504, 2015CB655001), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51373165, 21625403, 21574129, 21404099), the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB12010200), and the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2017265).

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Polymer Physics and Chemistry, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130022, China

    Chuandong Dou, Jun Liu & Lixiang Wang

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  1. Chuandong Dou
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  2. Jun Liu
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Correspondence to Chuandong Dou or Jun Liu.

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Dou, C., Liu, J. & Wang, L. Conjugated polymers containing B←N unit as electron acceptors for all-polymer solar cells. Sci. China Chem. 60, 450–459 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-016-0503-x

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