Boron Subphthalocyanines and Silicon Phthalocyanines for Use as Active Materials in Organic Photovoltaics

Trevor M Grant; David S Josey; Kathleen L Sampson; Thanmayee Mudigonda; Timothy P Bender; Benoît H Lessard

doi:10.1002/tcr.201800178

Boron Subphthalocyanines and Silicon Phthalocyanines for Use as Active Materials in Organic Photovoltaics

Chem Rec. 2019 Jun;19(6):1093-1112. doi: 10.1002/tcr.201800178. Epub 2019 Jan 23.

Authors

Trevor M Grant¹, David S Josey², Kathleen L Sampson², Thanmayee Mudigonda², Timothy P Bender^{2

3

4}, Benoît H Lessard¹

Affiliations

¹ University of Ottawa, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, 161 Louis Pasteur, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
² Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry, University of Toronto, 200 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3E5, Canada.
³ Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto, 80 St. George Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3H6, Canada.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Toronto, 184 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 3E4, Canada.

PMID: 30672126
DOI: 10.1002/tcr.201800178

Abstract

Organic photovoltaics (OPVs) have experienced continued interest over the last 25 years as a viable technology for the generation of power. Phthalocyanines are among the oldest commercial dyes and have been utilized in some of the earliest examples of OPVs. In recent years, the use of boron subphthalocyanines (BsubPcs) and silicon phthalocyanines (SiPcs) has attracted a flurry of interest with some examples of fullerene-free devices reaching power conversion efficiencies >8 %. Unlike other more common divalent phthalocyanines such as copper or zinc, BsubPcs and SiPcs contain additional axial groups that can easily be functionalized without significantly affecting the optoelectronic properties of the macrocycle. This handle facilitates our ability to tune the solid-state arrangement and other physical characteristics such as solubility ultimately giving us the ability to improve the thin film processing and final device performance. This review covers recent studies on the development of BsubPcs and SiPcs for use as active materials in organic photovoltaics.

Keywords: Boron; acceptor; cells; fullerene-free; non-fullerene; organic; photovoltaics; phthalocyanine; silicon; solar; subphthalocyanine.

Publication types

Review