Double-cable polymers for fullerene based organic optoelectronic applications

Conjugated polymers are used increasingly for the fabrication of electronic and optoelectronic devices like light emitting diodes (LEDs) and photovoltaic (PV) elements. A breakthrough in realising a promisingly efficient conversion of solar energy into electrical energy has been achieved by using blends of soluble electron-donor type conjugated polymers with fullerenes as electron-acceptor, transporting component. This "bulk heterojunction" approach suggests the preparation of intrinsically bipolar materials as a way to control both electronic and morphological properties at once. On these bases, the covalent grafting of fullerene moieties to conjugated backbones seems promising for the preparation of intrinsically bipolar polymeric materials (double-cable polymers) alternative to conjugated polymer/ fullerene composites. The recent developments on the design, the characterisation and the application of this novel class of fullerene functional materials are reviewed.