Near-infrared absorbing boron-dibenzopyrromethenes that serve as light-harvesting sensitizers for polymeric solar cells.

Hexylthiophene-conjugated boron-dibenzopyrromethenes with benzo[1,3,2]oxazaborinine rings, 1, that absorb near-infrared light with relatively high molecular extinction coefficients have been synthesized. The incorporation of 3-hexylthiophene-conjugated dye 1a at a blend ratio of 5 wt % into a polymeric solar cell based on a P3HT/indene-C(70) bisadduct (IC(70)BA) bulk heterojunction structure improved power conversion efficiency from 3.7 to 4.3%. The present work suggests that well-defined near-infrared absorbing BODIPY analogues can potentially be used as photosensitizers in polymeric solar cells.