Optical properties of low band gap alternating copolyfluorenes for photovoltaic devices

In a joint experimental and theoretical work the optical response and excited-state character of two novel conjugated polymers for photovoltaic applications are studied. The polymers, alternating polyfluorene (APFO) Green 1 and APFO Green 2, are both copolymers of fluorene, thiophene, and electron accepting groups. The band gaps are extended into the red and near infrared with onsets of 780 and 1000 nm, respectively, due to alternating donor and acceptor moieties along the polymer chain. Spectroscopic ellipsometry and subsequent modeling made it possible to extract the dielectric function in the range of 260-1200 nm. Semiempirical quantum chemical calculations (ZINDO) revealed the character of the main electronic transitions in the studied spectral region. The spectral band just above 400 nm was assigned to a delocalized pi-pi* transition for both polymers. The red band lying at 622 and 767 nm in the two polymers corresponds to an electronic state mainly occupying the acceptor units and having a strong charge-transfer character. We show that the ZINDO transition energies are valuable input to the application of Lorentz oscillators in modeling of the dielectric function of the polymer material.