Improving Photoconductance of Fluorinated Donors with Fluorinated Acceptors

This work investigates the influence of fluorination of both donor and acceptor materials on the generation of free charge carriers in small molecule donor/fullerene acceptor BHJ OPV active layers. A fluorinated and non-fluorinated small molecule analogue were synthesized and their optoelectronic properties characterized. The intrinsic photoconductance of blends of these small molecule donors was investigated using time-resolved microwave conductivity. Blends of the two donor molecules with a traditional non-fluorinated fullerene (PC₇₀BM) as well as a fluorinated fullerene (C₆₀(CF₃)2-1) were investigated using 5% and 50% fullerene loading. We demonstrate for the first time that photoconductance in a 50:50 donor:acceptor BHJ blend using a fluorinated fullerene can actually be improved relative to a traditional non-fluorinated fullerene by fluorinating the donor molecule as well.