Synthesis of conjugated polymers with pendant ruthenium terpyridine trithiocyanato complexes and their applications in heterojunction photovoltaic cells

Two conjugated polymers based on poly(phenylenethiophene) and poly (fluorenethiophene) main chain functionalized with pendant trithiocyanato ruthenium terpyridine complexes were synthesized by the Suzuki coupling reaction. The ruthenium complexes can extend the absorption band to longer wavelength and enhance the photosensitivity in this region. The polymers exhibit very broad absorption band spanning from 400 to 750 nm due to the presence of π‐conjugated system and the ruthenium complexes. Such enhancement in optical absorption enables the utilization of solar light in the near IR region. By space charge limited current modeling, the hole carrier mobilities of the polymers were calculated to be in the order of 10^?4 cm² V^?1 s^?1, which greatly facilitate the transport of charges after the separation of excitons. Heterojunction photovoltaic cells with simple structure ITO/polymer/C₆₀/Al were fabricated. Under simulated AM1.5 solar light illumination, the short circuit currents, open circuit voltages, and power conversion efficiencies of the photovoltaic cells were measured to be 1.53–2.58 mA cm^?2, 0.12–0.24 V, and 0.084–0.12%, respectively. Deposition of PEDOT:PSS on ITO surface did not show significant difference in device performance. Plot of incident photon to charge efficiency as the function of wavelength suggests that absorption by both conjugated main chain and ruthenium complex are essential to the photocurrent generation. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 46: 1305–1317, 2008