Enhanced photovoltaic cells efficiency via incorporation of high electron-deficient oxadiazole moieties on side chains of poly(phenylene vinylene)s and poly(fluorene)s

High charge mobility and fast exciton dissociation rate are essential for photovoltaic cells. In this study, we demonstrate effects of the electron-deficient oxadiazole (OXD) moiety attached on the side chain on the efficiency of photovoltaic cells for poly(phenylene vinylene)s (PPVs) and poly(fluorene)s (PFs) as the active layer by luminescence decay and time of flight measurement (TOF). We find that OXD moiety can increase exciton dissociation rate and promote electron transport. Therefore, the efficiencies of incident photon converting to electron of the OXD-attached polymers, POPD-MEH-PPV(37/63) and OXD50PFO, are higher than those of MEH-PPV and PFO by factors of 2.1 and 29, respectively.