Molecular Engineering of Simple Metal‐Free Organic Dyes Derived from Triphenylamine for Dye‐Sensitized Solar Cell Applications. Issue 1 (21st October 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ferdowsi, Parnian; Saygili, Yasemin; Jazaeri, Farzan; Edvinsson, Tomas; Mokhtari, Javad; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.; Liu, Yuhang; Grätzel, Michael; Hagfeldt, Anders
• Is Part Of: ChemSusChem. Volume 13:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 212
• Page End: 220
• Publication Date: 2019-10-21
• Subjects: donor–acceptor systems -- dyes/pigments -- electrochemistry -- sensitizers -- solar cells; Green chemistry -- Periodicals; Sustainable engineering -- Periodicals; Chemistry -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; 660
• DOI: 10.1002/cssc.201902245
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1864-5631

Abstract

Abstract: Two new metal‐free organic sensitizers, L156 and L224, were designed, synthesized, and characterized for application in dye‐sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The structures of the dyes contain a triphenylamine (TPA) segment and 4‐(benzo[ c ][1, 2, 5]thiadiazol‐4‐yl)benzoic acid as electron‐rich and ‐deficient moieties, respectively. Two different π bridges, thiophene and 4, 8‐bis(4‐hexylphenyl)benzo[1, 2‐ b :4, 5‐ b ′]dithiophene, were used for L156 and L224, respectively. The influence of iodide/triiodide, [Co(bpy)3 ] 2+/3+ (bpy=2, 2′‐bipyridine), and [Cu(tmby)2 ] 2+/+ (tmby=4, 4′, 6, 6′‐tetramethyl‐2, 2′‐bipyridine) complexes as redox electrolytes and 18 NR‐T and 30 NR‐D transparent TiO2 films on the DSC device performance was investigated. The L156‐based DSC with [Cu(tmby)2 ] 2+/+ complexes as the redox electrolyte resulted in the best performance of 9.26 % and a remarkably high open‐circuit voltage value of 1.1 V (1.096 V), with a short‐circuit current of 12.2 mA cm −2 and a fill factor of 0.692, by using 30 NR‐D TiO2 films. An efficiency of up to 21.9 % was achieved under a 1000 lx indoor light source, which proved that dye L156 was also an excellent candidate for indoor applications. The maximal monochromatic incident‐photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency of L156–30 NR‐D reached up to 70 %. Abstract : Collecting light indoors : Two metal‐free organic sensitizers, L156 and L224, are synthesized and characterized experimentally and theoretically. These dyes contain a triphenylamine segment and 4‐(benzo[ c ][1, 2, 5]thiadiazol‐4‐yl)benzoic acid as electron‐rich and ‐deficient moieties, respectively. The influence of different parameters on dye‐sensitized solar‐cell device performance is reported.