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In recent years, photocatalytic technology has attracted wide attention in environmental treatment, exploring non-toxic and metal-free photocatalysts is imminent to meet sustainable development. However, semiconductors with wide spectral response are rarely studied and applied in the field of photocatalysis. Herein, a new narrow band-gap polymer PFBDT-DPP (P3) with wide absorption from 500 to 860 nm was synthesized and further constructed heterostructure with g-C 3 N 4 for photocatalytic sterilization and degradation of organic pollutant Rhodamine B (RhB). The optimal antibacterial rate for Escherichia coli reached 99.8% after 190 min of light irradiation and for Staphylococcus aureus reached 96.8% after 120 min of irradiation, and the highest degradation efficiency of RhB by P3/g-C 3 N 4 was 98.9% within 60 min light irradiation, while g-C 3 N 4 displayed an unsatisfactory sterilization and photodegradation performance. This is mainly attributed to the broadened light absorption range and enhanced carrier separation efficiency of P3/g-C 3 N 4 . This work could provide a new strategy to fabricate metal-free photocatalysts with high utilization of sunlight and excellent photocatalytic performance., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The 2D asymmetric benzodithiophene (BDT) unit is used as a donor unit to construct one new polymer PBDTBDD-Th with benzo[1,2-c:4,5-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) as acceptor building block. In comparison to the polymer PBDTsTh-BDD with a side chain containing a sulfur atom, the devices based on PBDTBDD-Th/ITIC show better performance due to the introduction of carbon atoms in the side chain, which could weaken the self-aggregations of polymer chains. As a result, the devices based on PBDTBDD-Th/ITIC blends yield power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) over 10%, much higher than those based on PBDTsTh-BDD/ITIC blends (7.09%). The exciton dissociation probabilities (P diss ) of a device based on PBDTBDD-Th/ITIC blends is 95.3%, which suggests that the device achieves good exciton dissociation and charge transfer. In general, the polymer PBDTBDD-Th shows capability to increase the PCEs of polymer solar cells (PSCs) with a non-fullerene acceptor., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Benzo[c][1,2,5]oxadiazole (BO) moiety is a strong electron-withdrawing unit compared to benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (BT). It is usually introduced as an acceptor to construct narrow band-gap donor-acceptor (D-A) materials. Herein, the π-extended conjugated moiety dithieno[3',2':3,4″;2,3″:5,6]benzo[1,2-c][1,2,5]oxadiazole (BOT) was adopted as the acceptor moiety to design D-A polymers. Considering the more extended π-conjugated molecular system of BOT compared to the BO unit, a narrower optical band-gap is expected for BOT-based IDT polymer (PIDT-BOT). Unexpectedly, the UV-vis absorption spectra of PIDT-BOT films display a great hypochromatic shift of about 60 nm compared to a BO-based analog (PIDT-BO). The optical band-gaps of the materials are broadened from 1.63 eV (PIDT-BO) to 2.00 eV (PIDT-BOT) accordingly. Although the range of external quantum efficiency (EQE) of PIDT-BOT-based polymer solar cell (PSC) devices is not as wide as for PIDT-BO-based devices, the EQE response intensities of the PIDT-BOT based device are evidently high. As a result, PSC devices based on PIDT-BOT reveal the best power conversion efficiency at 6.08%., (© 2018 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In order to improve the solution processability of 4,7-bis(thiophen-2-yl)benzo[c][1,2,5]thiadiazole (DTBT)-based polymers, novel donor-acceptor polymer PTOBDTDTBT containing DTBT and benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) with conjugated side chain is designed and synthesized with narrow band gap 1.67 eV and low lying HOMO energy level -5.4 eV. The blend film of PTOBDTDTBT and PC71 BM exhibits uniform and smooth film with root-mean-square (RMS) surface roughness 1.15 nm because of the excellent solubility of PTOBDTDTBT when six octyloxy side chains are introduced. The hole mobility of the blend film is measured to be 4.4 × 10(-5) cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) by the space-charge-limited current (SCLC) model. The optimized polymer solar cells (PSCs) based on PTOBDTDTBT/PC71 BM exhibits an improved PCE of 6.21% with Voc = 0.80 V, Jsc = 11.94 mA cm(-2) and FF = 65.10%, one of the highest PCE in DTBT containing polymers., (© 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

In organic solar cells, the aggregation and crystallization of polymers are significant for bulk heterojunction. Blending with acceptor materials, polymer donor materials can adjust their aggregation by the movement of the chain segments. In this paper, the unfused structures based on thiophene and carbazole are respectively designed and introduced into the donor-acceptor copolymer donor materials to investigate the influence of flexible and rigid structures on polymer-aggregation leading photoelectric performance. The material and quantum chemical property investigations show that the selection and design of the blocks are important for the properties of the terpolymers, and the resulting polymer:Y6 devices achieve improvements in performance from 13.85% to 15.66% (especially for fill factors from 63.37% up to 69.81%). This result contributes to designing and optimizing efficient polymers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary semitransparent polymer solar cells (ST‐PSCs) have great potential to simultaneously improve the power conversion efficiency (PCE) and average visible transmittance (AVT). Non‐fullerene acceptor IHIC was synthesized by a simple one‐step process under low cost and had an A‐D‐A structure similar to ITIC and IT‐4F. Ternary device based on PM6:Y6:IHIC (20%) demonstrated higher hole and electron mobility (2.78, 3.12 × 10−4 cm2 V−1 S−1) and more balanced charge transport properties (μe/μh = 1.12) than the host binary device, and the ternary ST‐PSC demonstrated a PCE of 12.18% and AVT of 27.07%. Ternary PSCs with 20% ITIC or IT‐4F also exhibited more balanced μe/μh ratios (1.31 and 0.85), but with slightly enhanced short‐current circuit density (JSC) and reduced AVT (23–24%), mainly owing to unavoidable absorption of third component in the visible region. Our conclusion in this work was that the little A‐D‐A non‐fullerene acceptor could improve ternary blend film morphology and charge transport channels and enhanced JSC and PCE, and PM6:Y6:IHIC (20%) with high AVT over 27% and PCE over 12% was more suitable in ST‐PSCs than PM6:Y6:ITIC/IT‐4F (20%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Poly{[2,7-(9,9-bis-(1-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl)-fluorene)]-alt-[5,5-(4,7-di-2′-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole)]} (EO-PF-DTBT) was synthesized by Suzuki coupling reaction. The polymer is soluble in common organic solvent, such as toluene, THF, and chloroform, and it also shows solubility in polar solvent, such as cyclopentanone. Solar cells based on EO-PF-DTBT and PC61BM show maximum power conversion efficiency of 2.65% with an open circuit voltage ( VOC) of 0.86 V, a short circuit current density ( JSC) of 6.10 mA/cm2, and a fill factor of 51% under AM 1.5G illumination at 100 mW/cm2, which is the best results for fluorene and 4,7-di-2-thienyl-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole copolymers and PC61BM blend. The 1,8-diiodooctane can work well to reduce the over-aggregated phase structure in polymer solar cells. Our results suggest that the introducing high hydrophilic side chain into conjugated polymer donor materials can tune the aggregation structure and improve the solar cells performances. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014, 131, 40478. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solid-state, single-component green light-emitting electrochemical cells (LECs) based on a fluorene-benzothiadiazole copolymer has been successfully demonstrated. The solubilizing side groups are octyl and 2-(2-(2-methoxyethoxy)ethoxy)ethyl, with the latter introduced to promote ionic conductivity necessary for the operation of the LECs. The copolymer was synthesized by Suzuki coupling reactions with number-average molecular weight between 5,600 and 13,200 and polydispersity between 2.06 and 3.21. The LECs were fabricated by spin-coating the copolymer admixed with lithium trifluoromethanesulfonate onto indium-tin oxide (ITO) substrate coated with polyethylenedioxythiophene-polystyrene sulfonic acid (PEDOT:PSS). The opposite electrode was vapor evaporated aluminum. The LEC devices shows green electroluminescence with CIE coordinates of (0.37, 0.59). The devices exhibit comparable performance with corresponding light emitting diodes using evaporated barium as cathode. The copolymer with higher benzothiadiazole (BT) content shows relatively higher LEC device performance. Cyclic voltammetry and chemical doping measurements indicate that the polymer with higher BT content in the backbone can be more readily n-doped, which is consistent with the higher LEC performance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: A novel diphenylaminofluorenyl-capped narrow band-gap oligomer 4,7-[bis-5-(9,9-bis(octyl)-7-diphenylaminofluorene-2-yl)-thiophen-2-yl]-[2,1,3]benzo thiadiazole (DPAFL-DBT-DPAFL which is further abbreviated to DDBTD, presented in first scheme of the article) has been synthesized and characterized. The obtained molecule absorbs light from 300 to 650nm. Photovoltaic cell by using the blend of the obtained oligomer and PCBM as a active layer was fabricated by spin-coating method. The maximum energy conversion efficiency reached 0.22% and photocurrent response was extended over 700nm. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A series of random conjugated copolymers (PFO-HBT) derived from 9,9-dioctylfluorene (DOF) and 2-hexylbenzotriazole (HBT) is prepared by the palladium-catalyzed Suzuki coupling reaction with the feed HBT molar ratio around 1%, 5% and 15%. By copolymerizing 2-hexylbenzotriazole into the backbone of polyfluorene, an efficient colorfast blue light-emitting polymer system is developed. The device with the structure of ITO (indium tin oxide)/PEDOT/PVK/PFO-HBT1/Ba/Al exhibits the highest external quantum efficiency 1.62% with luminance efficiency of 2.69cd/A, power efficiency of 1.25lm/W and the CIE coordinates of (0.15, 0.17). The EL spectra are stable at the increased current density and continuous operation without significant change of CIE. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Polymer light emitting devices were fabricated by roll lamination using single-walled carbon nanotubes as both anode and cathode. The devices exhibited a low turn-on voltage of 3.8 V, high brightness of 1400 cd/m2 at 10 V and maximum efficiency of 2.2 cd/A at 480 cd/m2. The devices are also highly transparent and exhibited very high flexibility. No failure was observed after bending the devices down to 2.5 mm radius. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• 10–12% High power conversion efficiency is achieved by halogenated ITIC and BDT polymer. • Fluorinated, chlorinated and brominated ITIC acceptor all fit BDT-BDD backboned donor. • 70% FF are achieved by all halogenated ITIC based devices. Acceptor halogenation is an excellent modification method for modulating molecular energy levels, improving optical absorption, shortening the intermolecular packing distance thus ameliorating morphologies and achieving effective exciton dissociation and charge transfer of organic photovoltaic device. In this work, F, Cl and Br terminated ITIC small molecule acceptor (SMA) derivatives (IT-2F, IT-2Cl and IT-2Br) are designed and synthesized to compare the halogen substitution effect. Among these three acceptors, IT-2F based PSCs devices show the highest power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) around 12.08%, but Br terminated ITIC show downshifted LUMO energy level. Brominated ITIC show comparable PCEs with Cl and F terminated compound, and moreover chlorinated and brominated ITIC show low synthesis cost and easy purification than fluorinated materials, which may be favorable for future commercialization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract A medium-band-gap donor–acceptor (D–A) polymer (PBDTS-DTBO) was designed and synthesized with alkoxyl-substituted benzo[ c ][1,2,5]oxadiazole (BO) as A unit and benzo[1,2- b :4,5- b' ]dithiophene (BDT) derivative (BDTTS) as D moiety. The resulting polymer not only possesses a high number-average molecular weight (M n) of 53.0 kDa, but also exhibits a deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level of −5.43 eV, which is in favor of a higher V OC of 0.88 V in the photovoltaic devices. Consequently, due to excellent phase separation and weak bimolecular recombination, the efficiency of the fullerene-based solar cells can reach 8.47% with a high current density (J SC) of 14.93 mA cm−2 and FF of 0.661, which is one of highest values for currently reported benzoxadiazole-based materials. In addition, considering the polymer also shows a medium optical bandgap of 1.75 eV, which can be well complementary with the classical non-fullerene acceptor ITIC. The best performance device exhibits a good efficiency of 6.45% in fullerene-free devices, which could be ascribed to the serious bimolecular recombination. This work revealed that alkoxyl-substituted benzoxadiazole could be a promising moiety to construct efficient light-harvesting polymer. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • Side-chain engineering promotes benzoxadiazole-based polymer with high M n and HOMO energy level. • The efficiency of 8.47% is one highest values for BO-based solar cells. • The fullerene-based solar cells exhibit weak bimolecular recombination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Polyfluorenes with 2-(2′-pyridyl)-benzimidazole (P1, P2 and P4) and 5-methyl-3-(pyridin-2-yl)-1,2,4-triazole (P3) groups in the side chain were synthesized by Suzuki polycondensation. The responsive properties of polymers on metal ions and H+ were investigated by absorption and emission spectra. The fluorescences of polymers (P1–P4) were completely quenched upon the transition metal ions such as Co2+, Ni2+, Fe3+ and Ag+ due to the enhanced electronic communication properties of conjugated polymers. The obvious differences to Ni2+ ion responsive sensitivity were observed between P1 and P4 polymers. The fluorescences of P1 and P4 were quenched to 50 (I 0/I) and to 22 (I 0/I) upon the addition of a Ni2+ solution of 3.2×10−6 M, as well as 5.0×10−6 M, respectively, owing to the different conjugated backbone. The fluorescences of P2 and P3 were completely and hardly quenched upon the addition of a Al3+ solution of 1.0×10−4 M, respectively, owing to the different receptors in the side chain. P2 showed good selectivity to Ni2+ ion in the range of quencher concentration as low as 5ppm, owing to the different chelating abilities of receptor with ions. Cu2+ and Mn2+ ions hardly quenched the fluorescences of polymers (P1–P4), which were different from the oligopyridyl-functionalized conjugated polymers. The results further opened the opportunities to develop the tailored sensory materials through the appropriate alteration of receptors in the side chain and the conjugated backbone. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Semitransparent solar cells exhibited PCE over 11.6% with high visible light transmission. • Opaque polymer solar cells exhibited increased Jsc and PCE while remaining high Voc. • The ternary blend film achieved a smooth morphology and a balanced charge transport. Semitransparent photovoltaic devices can open a window for the photovoltaic application, such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPVs) and portable photovoltaic chargers and so on. We demonstrated a classical visible non-fullerene acceptor IT-M was incorporated into binary blend, and the new ternary blend (PM6:Y6:IT-M) film achieved a smooth surface morphology and a balanced charge transport compared to binary blend films. The ternary devices exhibit increased J SC of 26.44 mA cm−2 and PCE of 15.78% while remaining high V OC of 0.87 V. As a result, the ternary blend (PM6:Y6:IT-M) semitransparent devices achieved optimal PCE of 11.67% and AVT of 22.20%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A lot of binary copolymers have been designed and synthesized for non-fullerene polymer solar cells (PSCs). However, some binary donor-acceptor copolymers exhibited unsatisfactory optical absorption and photovoltaic performance, which are based on 2D-conjugated bithienyl-benzodithiophene (BDTT) and fluorobenzotriazole. Herein, we employed random copolymerization approach to construct terpolymers (named as J28, J55, J82), which outperform binary copolymers in non-fullerene PSCs. Non-fullerene PSCs based on J55: ITIC (1.0:1.0) without any additive (DIO) demonstrate a V OC of 0.83 V, a J SC of 17.23 mA cm−2, a FF of 63.67% and a PCE of 9.19% (a PCE of 5.85% for J52:ITIC, 1.0:1.0; a PCE of 8.16% for J60:ITIC, 1.0:1.0). Semitransparent polymer solar cells (ST-PSCs) based on J55:ITIC showed a V OC of 0.84 V, a J SC of 15.60 mA cm−2, a FF of 51.19%, a PCE of 6.73% with an AVT of 22.06%. This work demonstrates that fluorobenzotriazole and BDTT with branched alkyl and branched alkylthio based terpolymers could have higher photovoltaic performance via random copolymer approach and also meet the balance of two key parameters of power conversion efficiencies and average visible transmittance in ST-PSCs. [Display omitted] • Random copolymerization strategy prepared the new random terpolymers (J28, J55, J82). • The random terpolymer (J55) achieved high-performance with a PCE of 9.19%. • Terpolymer semitransparent polymer solar cells exhibited PCE of 6.73% and AVT of 22.06%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ternary polymer solar cells (PSCs) are one of the most promising high-efficiency photovoltaic devices with advantages of simple solution fabrication and single-junction structure. Herein, we fabricated ternary PSCs with PC 71 BM as the third component, and ester-polymer PFTzTT-3TC as donor and ITIC as host acceptor. So after treatment-annealing, ternary devices based on PFTzTT-3TC: ITIC: PC 71 BM (1:1:0.05) exhibited a prominently increased V OC of 0.93 V and PCE of 8.87%. The optimal devices (1:1:0.30) delivers a state of art FF of 71.76%, which is over 22% higher than the value of 58.40% in binary devices. Ternary semitransparent solar cells (1:1:0.25, 15 and 20 nm Ag as cathode) produced a PCE of 6.49% and 7.18% and an AVT of 11.91% and 9.29%, respectively. Our work demonstrated that ternary strategy is a promising solution to improve photovoltaic parameters simultaneously though rational selection of matched fullerene and non-fullerene acceptors. [Display omitted] • The FF of ternary OSC was obviously improved by the additional PC 71 BM from 58.40% to 71.76%. • An enhanced PCE of 8.95% was achieved in the 30 wt% PC 71 BM incorporated ternary OSC. • Applying ester-polymer into ternary semitransparent PSCs was reported firstly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, four wide-bandgap (WBG) conjugated polymers based on asymmetrical building block thieno [2,3f]benzofuran (TBF) and fluorobenzotriazole (BZ), are synthesized and applied as donor materials in polymer solar cells (PSCs). The effect of conjugated side chains (alkylthiothiophenyl, alkylthiophenyl, alkylphenyl and fluoroalkoxyphenyl) on the optical absorption, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties are investigated in detail. These polymers exhibit similar properties, strong absorption from 300 to 650 nm with wide bandgaps ranging from 1.87 to 1.96 eV, excellent thermal stability, the high and balanced carrier mobility. Notably, the open-circuit voltages (V OC) of PTS DO -BZ increases by 0.16 V compared with PT DO -BZ. Similarly, larger V OC changes have also occurred in PP EH -BZ and PPFO EH -BZ comparation. The enhanced V OC can be ascribed to the low-lying highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) energy level by incorporating sulfur and fluorine substituents on the conjugated side chains. The as-cast devices of PTS DO -BZ:ITIC exhibit the highest power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 8.66%, with a V OC of 0.88 V, a short-circuit current density (J SC) of 15.06 mA cm−2, and a fill factor (FF) of 65.12%. The results indicate that the modification of the side chains of the TBF unit can effectively lower the HOMO energy levels and thereby obtaining high V OC. Image 1 • Four new polymers based on thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran were reported. • Polymer containing sulfur and fluorine achieved the high V OC. • The photovoltaic results are good among thieno benzofuran based polymer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, one novel asymmetric non-fullerene acceptor ITIC-3T was designed and synthesized. ITIC-3T molecule shows 1.58 eV E g , with −3.95 eV LUMO level. Utilizing P3 (one asymmetric 2D conjugated benzodithiophene polymer) as donor material, bulk heterojunction solar cells were fabricated. The optimal device yields a PCE of 6.47% with a V OC of 0.64 V, a FF of 55.5% and a high J SC of 18.18 mA cm−2, which may be attributed to the complementary optical absorption of active blend (P3 and ITIC-3T). In general, this work demonstrates that asymmetric polymer donor and non-fullerene acceptor active layer blend is potential for fabricating efficient photovoltaic cells. Image 1 • Novel asymmetric A-D-A type non-fullerene acceptor ITIC-3T was synthesized and firstly reported. • Solar cell device based on asymmetric BDT-based polymer and asymmetric non-fullerene acceptor shows PCE of 6.47%. • Extraordinary J SC was achieved based on asymmetric polymer donor and non-fullerene acceptor device of 18.18 mA cm−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Fluorinated alkoxybiphenyl side-chained benzodithiophene polymers are firstly reported. • 1V high open-circuit voltage device are prepared with decent PCE. • Polymer and ITIC blend film show complementarity of absorption. Utilizing two-dimensional (2-D) conjugated structure and extending two-dimensional π-conjugation system with benzene can improve the performance of the BDT-based polymer solar cells (PSCs). In this work, combining with strong electron-drawing ability of fluorine atom, a new monomer BBFBDT with fluorinated alkoxybiphenyl unit as side-chain was designed and synthesized to construct medium band-gap donor (D) - acceptor (A) copolymer P1 with a benzo[1,2- c:4,5-c']dithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) acceptor. Blending with a classical non-fullerene acceptor ITIC, the P1-based PSCs reached a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 4.16% and when coupled with a fullerene acceptor PC 71 BM, the PCE of PSCs reached 4.66% with an open-circuit voltage (V oc) of 0.93 V, a short-circuit current density (J sc) of 9.83 mA cm−2 and a fill factor (FF) of 50.97%. The relatively poor J sc of P1-based devices may be caused by the bad complementarity of absorption spectra. Furthermore, a wide band-gap D-A copolymer P2, with a electron-deficient 4,7-bis(5-bromothiophen-2-yl)-2-((2-ethylhexyl)oxy)-5,6-difluoro-2H-benzo[d][1,2,3]triazole (TZ) as the acceptor unit, was synthesized to match the absorption spectra of ITIC. Finally, the efficiency achieved 6.59% with V oc of 0.99 V, J sc of 14.37 mA cm−2 and FF of 46.32%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, one novel carbazole side chained benzodithiophene (BDT) monomer is designed and synthesized, and this new donor monomer based two D−A conjugated polymers with electron-withdrawing acceptor 4,7-di(4-(2-ethylhexyl)-2-thienyl)-5,6-difluoro-2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (DTffBT) (P5) and benzodithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) (P7) are prepared. The polymers show 1.65–1.85 eV band gap, which is similar to the polymer with same backbone. The P5 based polymer solar cells show acceptable PCE around 8% and low enegy loss around 0.7 eV, which is similar to the fluorene side-chained polymer. P7 based polymer shows 1 V open-circuit voltage in both fullerene based and fullerene-free polymer solar cells. Molecular conformations, photophysical/electrochemical properties and film morphology of the device active layer blend films were also systematically investigated to reveal the structure−property relationships. This work suggests that carbazole unit is a promising π-conjugated side chain group for BDT monomer to construct efficient two-dimensional (2D) D−A conjugated photovoltaic polymers. Image 1 • First carbazole side chained benzodithiophene photovoltaic polymers is reported. • Polymer solar cells show high efficiency and low energy loss. • Benzodithiophene-4,8-dione (BDD) (P7) based devices show 1 V high Voc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A new thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran based polymer show PCE of 7.15%. • Solar cells device show low E loss around 0.53 eV. • The devices do not need any pre/post-treatment, which is convenient for industrial application. A donor–acceptor (D–A) polymer, PTBF DO -BDD, based on thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran (TBF) with 4-dodecyl thienyl chains, was designed and synthesized. The optical, electrochemical, photovoltaic and device active layer morphology properties of the new polymer were investigated. With the structure of indium tin oxide (ITO)/poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS)/PTBF DO -BDD:ITIC/PDINO/Al, polymer solar cells device exhibited a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 7.15% (AM1.5G, 100 mW cm−2) with V OC of 0.803 V, J SC of 14.71 mA cm−2, and FF of 60.57%. This work demonstrates that thieno[2,3-f]benzofuran-based conjugated polymers are promising as polymer solar cells donor materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]