Theoretical Study on Functionalizing A–D–A Type Non‐Fullerene Acceptor by Fused Rings and Side Chains for Organic Solar Cells

Abstract The modification of fused rings in the central backbone, side chains, and end groups of the non‐fullerene acceptor (NFA) for organic solar cells (OSCs) can modulate properties and photovoltaic performance. In order to investigate the effect of fused rings and side chains on photovoltaic performance, PBDB‐T is selected as electron donor and IDTIC, IDIC, IDIC‐PhC6, IDIC‐C4Ph, 4TIC, ITIC‐OE, IDTTIC, ITC6‐IC, ITIC, and C8‐ITIC are selected as NFAs. Based on quantum chemistry calculations, the geometries, electronic structures, excitation properties, excited‐state lifetimes, and electrostatic potentials (ESPs) of the monomer and the PBDB‐T:NFA complexes are studied, and the rate constants of charge transfer (CT), exciton dissociation (ED) and charge recombination (CR) processes are analyzed. The results show that the increase of fused‐ring in NFA's backbone by substituting phenyl or thienyl with bithiophene can elevate the highest occupied molecular orbital energies, reduce the gap of frontier molecular orbital energies, induce red‐shift of absorption spectrum, increase CT energy, improve CT and ED rates. This work provides a detailed understanding of tuning optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic performance by modifying NFA's side chains and extending backbones.