Starburst Triarylamine Based Dyes for Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

• Published in: Journal of organic chemistry Vol. 73; no. 10; pp. 3791 - 3797
• Main Authors: Ning, Zhijun, Zhang, Qiong, Wu, Wenjun, Pei, Hongcui, Liu, Bo, Tian, He
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: WASHINGTON American Chemical Society 16.05.2008; Amer Chemical Soc
• Subjects: Amines - chemistry; Chemistry; Chemistry, Organic; Coloring Agents - chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; Heterocyclic compounds; Heterocyclic compounds with several n hetero atoms in the same ring, in separated rings or in fused rings; Kemi; Models, Chemical; Molecular Structure; NATURAL SCIENCES; NATURVETENSKAP; Noncondensed benzenic compounds; Organic chemistry; Photochemistry; Physical Sciences; Preparations and properties; Science & Technology; Sensitivity and Specificity; Stereoisomerism; Teoretisk kemi; Theoretical chemistry; TETRAHYDROQUINOLINE DYES; CONJUGATION; ORGANIC-DYES; CHROMOPHORES; SOLUBLE PERYLENE DERIVATIVES; INTERNAL CHARGE-TRANSFER; PHOTOSENSITIZATION; HIGHLY-EFFICIENT; TIO2 FILMS; AGGREGATION; Titanium IV Oxides; Stability; Organic dye; Configuration; Frontier orbital; Photovoltaic system; Theoretical study; Energy level; Solar cell; Absorption spectrometry; Electrochemical properties; Optical properties; Electrochemistry; Irradiation; Bathochromism; Chemical synthesis; Arylamine; Electron acceptor; Electron donor; Sensitizer; SNO2 NANOPOROUS ELECTRODE; HIGHLY EFFICIENT; NANOCRYSTALLINE TIO2 FILMS
• ISSN: 0022-3263; 1520-6904; 1520-6904
• DOI: 10.1021/jo800159t

We report here on the synthesis and photophysical/electrochemical properties of a series of novel starburst triarylamine-based organic dyes (S1, S2, S3, and S4) as well as their application in dye-sensitized nanocrystalline TiO2 solar cells (DSSCs). For the four designed dyes, the starburst triarylamine group and the cyanoacetic acid take the role of electron donor and electron acceptor, respectively. It was found that the introduction of starburst triarylamine group to form the D-D-π-A configuration brought about superior performance over the simple D-π-A configuration, in terms of bathochromically extended absorption spectra, enhanced molar extinction coefficients and better thermo-stability. Moreover, the HOMO and LUMO energy levels tuning can be conveniently accomplished by alternating the donor moiety, which was confirmed by electrochemical measurements and theoretical calculations. The DSSCs based on the dye S4 showed the best photovoltaic performance: a maximum monochromatic incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) of 85%, a short-circuit photocurrent density (J sc) of 13.8 mA cm−2, an open-circuit photovoltage (V oc) of 0.63 V, and a fill factor (ff) of 0.69, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 6.02% under 100 mW cm−2 irradiation. This work suggests that the dyes based on starburst triphenylamine donor are promising candidates for improvement of the performance of the DSSCs.