Efficient organic photovoltaic cells based on thiazolothiazole and benzodithiophene copolymers with π‐conjugated bridges

New donor–π–acceptor (D–π–A) type conjugated copolymers, poly(4,8‐bis((2‐hexyldecyl)oxy)benzo1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene)‐alt‐(2,5‐bis(4‐octylthiophen‐2‐yl)thiazolo5,4‐d]thiazole)] (PBDT‐tTz), and poly(4,8‐bis((2‐hexyldecyl)oxy)benzo1,2‐b:4,5‐b′]dithiophene)‐alt‐(2,5‐bis(6‐octylthieno3,2‐b]thiophen‐2‐yl)thiazolo5,4‐d]thiazole)] (PBDT‐ttTz) were synthesized and characterized with the aim of investigating their potential applicability to organic photovoltaic active materials. While copolymer PBDT‐tTz showed a zigzagged non‐linear structure by thiophene π‐bridges, PBDT‐ttTz had a linear molecular structure with thieno3,2‐b]thiophene π‐bridges. The optical, electrochemical, morphological, and photovoltaic properties of PBDT‐tTz and PBDT‐ttTz were systematically investigated. Furthermore, bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices were fabricated by using the synthesized polymers as p‐type donors and 6,6]‐phenyl‐C₇₁‐butyric acid methyl ester as an n‐type acceptor. PBDT‐ttTz showed a high power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 5.21% as a result of the extended conjugation arising from the thienothiophene π‐bridges and enhanced molecular ordering in the film state, while PBDT‐tTz showed a relatively lower PCE of 2.92% under AM 1.5 G illumination (100 mW/cm²). © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018 , 56, 1978–1988