Benzimidazole-Indole-Chalcone Connected Methacrylate-Based Side Chain D-π-A Polymer and its Application in Organic Photovoltaics

Herein, we report four metal-free organic polymethacrylates (In-In-BzI) PMA, (Ac-In-BzI) PMA, (TPA-In-BzI) PMA, and (Py-In-BzI) PMA with pendant chromophores donor-pconjugated- acceptor (D-p-A) molecular framework as photosensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In which the donor-acceptor units are attached by an indole-chalcone extending side chain to inhibit back electron transfer and charge recombination; the p-linker component contains varied chalcone-based substituents to enhance the sunlight-harvesting ability of the solar device. Photon-current cells based on the DSSC format were fabricated using the polymers as sensitizers. The DSSC device assembled using (TPA-In-BzI) PMA exhibits a considerably better IPCE peak and J-V response, with an overall power conversion efficiency of 3.70% under the illumination of AM 1.5G (100 mW cm(-2)). (C) 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.