Metal-free organic dyes containing thiadiazole unit for dye-sensitized solar cells: a combined experimental and theoretical study?

RSC Advances Pub Date: 2014-02-26 DOI: 10.1039/C3RA47330A

Abstract

We have designed and synthesized four new metal free D–A–π–A type dyes (9–12) with variations in their acceptor/anchor groups. The four dyes carry tert-butyl substituted triphenylamine as donor, thiadiazole as acceptor and bithiophene as π-spacer. Cyanoacetic acid, rhodanine-3-acetic acid, 2-(4-methoxyphenyl)acetic acid and 2-phenylacetic acid are used as acceptor/anchor groups, respectively in the dyes 9–12. The acceptor/anchor effect on their photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties was investigated. The dyes exhibited good power conversion efficiency ranging from 1.95–4.12%. Among the four dyes, 9 showed the best photovoltaic performance: short-circuit current density (Jsc) of 8.50 mA cm?2, open-circuit voltage (Voc) of 645 mV and fill factor (FF) of 0.75, corresponding to an overall conversion efficiency of 4.12% under standard global AM 1.5 solar light conditions.

Graphical abstract: Metal-free organic dyes containing thiadiazole unit for dye-sensitized solar cells: a combined experimental and theoretical study
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