Novel quad-rotor-shaped photovoltaic materials: first example of fused-ring non-fullerene acceptors with proficient photovoltaic properties for high-performance solar cells

Development of novel materials for organic solar cells is a booming area of current research. Fused-ring electron accepters are the potential agents of revolution in organic photovoltaic devices and revealing high efficiency in organic solar cells. This study highlights the novel quad-rotor-shaped molecules as first example of efficient fused-ring non-fullerene acceptor materials with proficient photovoltaic parameters for their utilization in high-performance organic solar cells. First time, eight quad-rotor-shaped fused-ring electron accepters ( QRFR-1–QRFR-8 ) are developed via modulating end-caps of experimentally synthesized ( BFTT-TN ) molecule ( QRFR ). Optoelectronic properties of proposed molecules are determined using frontier molecular orbitals (FMO), UV–Visible, density of state (DOS), overlap DOS (ODOS), transition density matrix (TDM) heat maps, open circuit voltage (V oc ), binding energies (E b ), reorganization energy of electron (λ e ), hole (λ h ), charge transfer analysis, and compared with reference QRFR . All proposed fused-ring electron accepters disclose less energy gap and λ max in near IR region than QRFR after end-capped engineering. Highest V oc with respect to HOMO PM6 –LUMO acceptor is found 1.66 V in QRFR-6 than QRFR (1.63 V). E b values of QRFR-1 – QRFR-8 are found better and comparable with QRFR . The λ e is found smaller than QRFR in all molecules except QRFR-5 . The proposed quad-rotor-shaped molecules exhibit proficient photovoltaic features and can serve as best candidate for organic solar cells when blended with PM6 film. This study not only enlightens the researchers to use end-capped reforms as effective tactic for designing materials, but also provides novel quad-rotor-shaped materials to experimentalist for synthesis and their usage in future application of organic solar cells. Graphical abstract