Highly regioregular poly(3-hexylthiophene) derivatives with varying degrees of fluorine substitution on the thiophene moieties have been demonstrated in photovoltaic devices and characterized using ultraviolet and inverse photoelectron spectroscopy. As fluorine content is increased, an increase in ionization energy of 0.3 eV is observed for 50% fluorination compared to non-fluorinated poly(3-hexylthiophene). The electron affinity is observed to increase to a lesser extent with increased fluorination, consistent with a systematic increase in the optical bandgaps of up to 0.12 eV. Bulk heterojunction photovoltaic devices made from polymer:PC₆₁BM blends achieve power conversion efficiencies of 3%, however film morphologies measured using atomic force microscopy indicate that strong phase separation with increasing fluorination limits device performance. UV–vis spectra of thin films of the fluorinated materials exhibit a long tail in the red, extending to longer wavelengths than non-fluorinated poly(3-hexylthiophene). Photovoltaic devices similarly exhibit non-zero quantum efficiency in this region. This behavior has been attributed to a low energy, interchain charge transfer state.

已经在光伏器件中证明了在噻吩基团上具有不同氟取代度的高度区域规则的聚（3-己基噻吩）衍生物，并使用紫外和逆光电子能谱对其进行了表征。随着氟含量的增加，与未氟化的聚（3-己基噻吩）相比，氟化度为50％时电离能增加了0.3 eV。观察到电子亲和力随氟化作用的增加而增加的程度较小，这与光学带隙的系统性增加最高达0.12 eV一致。聚合物制成的块状异质结光伏器件：PC ₆₁BM共混物实现了3％的功率转换效率，但是使用原子力显微镜测量的薄膜形态表明，随着氟化作用的增强，强相分离会限制器件性能。氟化材料薄膜的紫外可见光谱显示红色的长尾巴，比未氟化的聚（3-己基噻吩）延伸到更长的波长。光伏器件在该区域中同样表现出非零的量子效率。此行为已归因于低能量的链间电荷转移状态。