Readily Accessible Benzo[d]thiazole Polymers for Nonfullerene Solar Cells with > 16% Efficiency and Potential Pitfalls

Here we report facile, high-yield synthetic access to the difluoro BTA building block, 4,7-bis(5-bromo-4-(2-hexyl-decyl)-thiophen-2-yl)-5,6-difluoro-2-(pentadecan-7-yl)-benzo[d]thiazole (BTAT2f), for use in donor (D)-acceptor 1 (A1)-D-acceptor 2 (A2) polymers [D = bithiophene; A1 = BTA-2f; A2 = benzothiadiazole (BT) derivative] for organic solar cells (OSCs). Fine tuning of polymer optical and electronic properties is achieved by incrementally varying the A2 fluorination level. Bulk-heterojunction (BHJ) PBTATBT-4f:Y6 solar cells deliver a noteworthy power conversion (PCE) efficiency of 16.08% (V-oc = 0.81 V; J(sc) = 27.25 mAcm(-2); FF = 72.70%) without processing additives. In contrast, PBTATBT-2f:Y6 exhibits an irregular morphology and low PCE, ascribable to cocrystal formation-induced recombination, which is unprecedented for nonfullerene (NFA) OSCs. This result should be of guiding significance for future NFA design.