Thiophene-substituted fulleropyrrolidine derivatives as acceptor molecules in a thin film organic solar cell

A study of the design of thiophene-substituted fulleropyrrolidine derivatives as the acceptor in photovoltaic cells has been carried out using poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) as the model donor polymer. It was found that five types of thiophene-substituted fulleropyrrolidine worked as a good acceptor partner with P3HT, and the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) was obtained for 1-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethyl)-2-(2-thiophen-2-yl)fulleropyrrolidine (2.99%); this is superior to that of the P3HT polymer including methyl [C60]-PCBM under the same experimental conditions.