Two novel donor-acceptor (D-A)-type conjugated polymers of PTTPPz-BDT and PTTPPz-BDTT were successfully synthesized by Stille coupling polymerization, in which 7,8-dialkoxy benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDT) and 7,8-bithienyl benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophene (BDTT) were used as donor units, thiophene and pyrene-fused phenazine (PPz) were employed as pi-bridges and acceptor units, respectively. High carrier mobilities, broad absorption spectra, narrow optical band gaps, and low HOMO energy levels were observed for both polymers. Furthermore, high-efficiency photovoltaic performance with power conversion efficiency (PCE) over 4.25% was exhibited in their polymer solar cells (PSCs) using [6,6]-phenyl-C-71-butyric-acid-methyl-ester (PC71BM) as acceptor. The maximum PCE of 4.86% with short-circuit current density of 11.10 mA cm(-2) and fill factor of 62.5% was obtained in the PTTPPz-BDTT based cell. These results indicate that incorporating large planar PPz moiety into D-A-type copolymer is an efficient approach to improve photovoltaic performance for PSCs. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.