Donor-free oligothiophene based dyes with di-anchor architecture for dye-sensitized solar cells

• Published in: Molecular systems design & engineering Vol. 6; no. 5; pp. 381 - 389
• Main Authors: Marques dos Santos, John, Tanaka, Ellie, Wiles, Alan A, Cooke, Graeme, Robertson, Neil
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Royal Society of Chemistry 10.05.2021
• Subjects: Chemical synthesis; Dye-sensitized solar cells; Dyes; Energy conversion efficiency; Photovoltaic cells
• ISSN: 2058-9689; 2058-9689
• DOI: 10.1039/d1me00009h

Traditionally, metal free DSSCs are fabricated from sensitizers designed using a donor-pi-acceptor (D-π-A) architecture. More recently, non-conventional dyes without strong donor units have emerged and have provided competitive power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) with respect to their (D-π-A)-based counterparts. Here, we report the synthesis and DSSC fabrication of oligothiophene molecules featuring two anchoring groups that do not possess strong donor moieties and are able to adopt V- and U-shape conformations. PCEs of 3.70% were obtained with the smaller 5-thiophene dyes ( 5T2A , 5T2A-E ) possessing higher PCEs than their larger 8-thiophene counterparts containing diacetylene units ( 8T4A , 8T4A-E ). Comparison to the DSSC properties of the analogous linear dye 5T , indicates that the architecture and structure of this series of dyes are likely responsible for their lower performance. We report the synthesis and DSSCs of oligothiophenes with two anchoring groups that can adopt V- and U-shape conformations.