Novel porphyrin‐grafted poly(phenylene vinylene) derivatives: Synthesis and photovoltaic properties

Abstract

Abstract A series of novel porphyrin‐grafted poly (phenylene vinylene) derivatives, Porp‐RO‐PPV, were synthesized by a simple two‐step method. These copolymers contain conjugated poly(phenylene vinylene) derivatives as polymer backbone and covalently linked porphyrin units as side chain, which were confirmed by FTIR and 1 H NMR, and used for photovoltaic devices. The thermal, optical properties and sensitizing effect, and photovoltaic properties have been investigated. The emission spectra of Porp‐RO‐PPV copolymers revealed the existence of strong energy transfer from PPV backbone to porphyrin units. The energy conversion efficiency (η e ) of photovoltaic devices based on Porp‐RO‐PPV+PCBM reached 0.33% (78.2 mW/cm 2 , AM1.5) and porphyrin units in the copolymers showed good sensitizing effect at low concentration. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008