Gregory Welch1
University of Calgary1
In 2000 Heinz Langhals and Susanne Kirner reported the N-annulation of the classic perylene diimide (PDI) dye.<sup>1</sup> Utility of this so called “N-annulated PDI” dye in the field of organic electronics was sparse until 2016. With reports of both sulfur and selenium annulated PDIs, our team in collaboration with Professor Henry Yan, re-introduced the N-annulated PDI as a useful building block for which to construct non-fullerene acceptors for organic photovoltaics.<sup>2</sup> N-annulation of the PDI chromophore destabilize the frontier molecular orbital energy levels leading to high voltage solar cell devices while the extra site for side-chain installation dramatically increases materials solubility, directs self-assembly, and allows for water soluble conjugated ionic salts to be readily formed. This presentation will highlight our teams work developing N-annulated perylene diimide derivatives to deliver non-halogenated solvent, roll-to-roll compatible processed organic photovoltaics.<sup>3,4,5,6</sup><br/>European Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2000, 2000, 2, 365-380<br/>Chemistry of Material, 2016, 28, 19, 7098-7109<br/>Materials Horizons, 2020, 7, 2959-2969<br/>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2020, 11, 42, 39010-39017<br/>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2020, 11, 49, 46017-46025<br/>ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 2021, 13, 41, 49096-49103