Thiophene-based oligomers, polymers and dendrimers for organic photovoltaics

Demand for inexpensive renewable energy sources has stimulated new approaches for the production of efficient, low cost photovoltaic (PV) solar cell devices. This thesis research has focused on developing thiophene-based oligomers, polymers and dendrimers for this purpose. The key results are summarized as follows:;First, three fully characterized polynorbornenes with electronically active pendant oligothiophene side chains have been synthesized and incorporated as active electronic components into single-layer photovoltaic cells. The device tests along with the electrochemical experiments demonstrate that incorporating chemically stable end-groups on the oligothiophene unit is responsible for the improvement of operation stability under ambient conditions.;Second, in-situ surface-initiated polymerization of thiophene inside nanoporous networks has been realized. The resulting organic-inorganic hybrids with polythiophene covalently bound inside nanopores can achieve better interface contact, larger surface coverage and more complete filling of the pores. These result in more efficient photoinjection of electrons into the conduction band of nanocrystalline TiO2 than an analogous nanoporous structure infiltrated by polymer synthesized outside the network.;The last part of this thesis covers the synthesis and characterization of a new series of semi-flexible oligothiophene-based dendrimers, which show pronounced solvatochromic and thermochromic properties. Microscopic fluorescence investigation of such surface adhered dendrimers provides the evidence that the intramolecular interactions inside these dendritic structures mainly account for the origin of the morphology-related chromism properties. This architecture is promising to make processable light harvesting structures having scaffolded donors covalently integrated with acceptors such as fullerenes in order to fabricate photovoltaics where phase segregation is suppressed.