| Conjugated organic compounds and polymers have attracted significant attention due to their potential application in electronic devices as semiconducting materials, such as organic solar cells (OSCs). In order to tune band gaps, donor-acceptor (D-A) structure is widely used, which has been proved to be one of the most effective strategies. This thesis consists of three parts: 1) design, syntheses and characterization of new weak acceptors based on imides and the systematic study of the structure-property relationship; (2) introduction of weak and strong acceptors in one polymer to achieve a broad coverage of light absorption and improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE); (3) modification of benzothiadiazole (BT) acceptor in order to increase the electron withdrawing ability.;In order to obtain broad absorption coverage, both weak acceptor ( BIDO-2) and strong acceptor diketopyrrolopyrrole (DPP) were introduced in the same polymer. The resulting polymers show two absorption bands at 400 and 600 nm and two emission peaks at 500 and 680 nm. The band gaps of the polymers are around 1.6 eV, which is ideal for OSC application. The PCE of 1.17% was achieved.;Finally, thiadiazolobenzoimidazole (TBI) acceptor was designed in order to increase the electron-withdrawing ability of BT. The key feature of TBI is the three electron deficient imine groups, rendering TBI a stronger acceptor than BT. Four TBI-containing compounds IV-a to IV-d were synthesized by reaction between diaminobenzothiadiazole and corresponding anhydride and exhibit the maximum absorption at 600 nm. The band gaps of IV-a to IV-d are smaller than that of BT-containing compounds, ranging from 1.60 to 1.97 eV. Moreover, all compounds are electrochromic and become absorbing at the telecommunication wavelength electrochemically.;Imide-based electron acceptors, 4-(5-bromothiophen-2-y1)-2-(2-ethylhexyl)-9- phenyl- 1H-benzo[f]isoindole-1,3(2H)-dione (BIDO-1) and 4,9-bis(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-2-(2-ethylhexyl)-benzo[f]isoindole-1,3-dione (BIDO-2), were designed and synthesized. In this design, naphthalene is selected as its main core to maintain a planar structure, and thienyl groups are able to facilitate the bromination reaction and lower the band gap. BIDO-1 and BIDO-2 were successfully coupled with different donors by both Suzuki cross-coupling and Stille cross-coupling reactions. Based on the energy levels and band gaps of the BIDO-containing compounds and polymers, BIDO-1 and BIDO-2 are proved to be weak electron acceptors. Pyromellitic diimide (PMDI) was also studied and found to be a stronger electron acceptor than BIDO . |
