New materials based on thiazolothiazole and thiophene candidates for optoelectronic device applications: theoretical investigations

We report theoretical analysis on the geometries and electronic properties of new conjugated compounds based on thiazolothiazole synthesized by Ando et al. (Synth. Met., 156:327 13]). The theoretical ground-state geometry and electronic structure of the studied molecules were investigated by the density functional theory (DFT) method at Becke’s three-parameter functional and Lee–Yang–Parr functional (B3LYP) level with 6-31G(d,p) basis set. The effects of the ring structure and the substituents on the geometries and electronic properties of these materials are discussed to investigate the relationship between molecular structure and optoelectronic properties. This investigation was used to drive further syntheses towards compounds more useful as active optoelectronic materials. Theoretical knowledge of the highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) and lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) energy levels of the components is basic in studying organic solar cells, so the HOMO, LUMO, and gap energy V _oc (open-circuit voltage) of the studied compounds are calculated and discussed. These properties suggest these materials as good candidates for use in organic dye-sensitized solar cells.