αThiophene octamer as a new class of photo‐active material for photoelectrical conversion**

Abstract

α‐thiophene octamer (α‐8T) is shown to be a suitable materials for application as the p‐type semiconductor component in photovoltaic devices. Combined with a perylene pigment as the n‐type semicondctor, the α‐8T is used to produce a pn heterojunction cell which exhibits a fill factor of 0.5 ad a conversion efficiency of 0.6% for irradiation of while light, a performance comparable to that reported for copper‐ and titanyl‐phthalocyanine‐based devices. The application of α‐8T would allow vacuum deposition techniques to be used in the production of the cells.