Electron-deficient truxenone derivatives and their use in organic photovoltaics

A series of electron-deficient truxenone derivatives are investigated as fullerene alternatives in organic photovoltaic applications. These new electron-accepting molecules have easily tunable absorption profiles, more than ten-fold higher absorptivities than PCBM, slightly higher electron affinities than PCBM and clearly defined and highly reversible reductive characteristics. Fabrication of efficient bilayer solar cells with a subphthalocyanine (SubPc) donor illustrates the promise of this class of materials as electron acceptors in organic solar cells.