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Innovative pathways to efficiency in organic solar cells: a DFT perspective on small donors

delete2025-09-16
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PRE
AI
S
Sajid Muhammad
W
Wajeeha Fatima
K
Khuram Ali *
H
Hafiza Saima Batool
E
Esha Fatima
S
Suriani Abu Bakar
DOI:10.1007/s10825-025-02418-ydelete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
Innovative small molecule donors (SMDs) in organic solar cells (OSCs) have gained attention due to their high absorbance and tunable band gaps, enabling improved efficiency and performance. In this study, three novel SMDs (M1, M2, and M3) were proposed by modifying terminal hydrogen atoms with fluorine (M1), methyl (M2), and methoxy (M3) groups. These substitutions were systematically analyzed for their effects on structural, electronic, and optical properties using density functional theory (DFT). The HOMO-LUMO energy gaps were found to be 2.03 eV (M1), 2.02 eV (M2), and 2.00 eV (M3). M3 also exhibited the highest absorption wavelength (lambda_max) of 743 nm, the lowest excitation energy (1.67 eV), and the highest light-harvesting efficiency (LHE = 0.9996). Charge transfer analyses showed that M3 had the lowest electron reorganization energy (lambda_e = 0.0046 eV), indicating superior charge mobility. These findings suggest that M3 is the most promising candidate for efficient OSC applications. Computations were performed using the Gaussian 09 suite, employing the B3LYP functional with the 6-31G(d,p) basis set and TD-DFT for excited state calculations. Solvent effects were considered using the PCM model, and CAM-B3LYP was used for excitation energy validation.
Keywords:
Power conversion efficiency
Density functional theory (DFT)
Organic solar cells
Photovoltaic properties
Small molecular donors

Journal

Journal of Computational Electronics cover
Journal of Computational Electronics
IF:
2.5
Papers:
132
Citations:
2.9K

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