Sulfonyl: a new application of electron-withdrawing substituent in highly efficient photovoltaic polymer

A strong electron-withdrawing group, sulfonyl, was firstly introduced to a semiconducting polymer, PBDTTT-S. The PCE of the PBDTTT-S device reached 6.22% with a high open-circuit voltage of 0.76 V. The sulfonyl group is thus a promising candidate as a strong electron-withdrawing group applied to high-efficiency PSCs.