Bis-Donor-Bis-Acceptor Tribranched Organic Sensitizers for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

The Impact of TPA Auxiliary Donor and the π-Linkers on the Performance of Newly Designed Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Computational Investigation

The efficiency of the newly designed dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) containing triphenylamine, diphenylamine (TPA), phenothiazine, and phenoxazine as donors and triazine, phenyl with D₁-D₂-π-linker-π-(A)₂ architecture has been investigated using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent (TD-DFT) methods. These methods were used to investigate the geometrical structures, electronic properties, absorption, photovoltaic properties, and chemical reactivity. Furthermore, the calculated results indicate that different architectures can modify the energy levels of HOMO and LUMO and reduce the energy gap. The absorption undergoes a redshift displacement. This work aims at calculating the structural geometries and the electronic and optical properties of the designed dyes. Furthermore, the dye adsorption characteristics, such as the optoelectronic properties and the adsorption energies in the TiO₂ clusters, were calculated with counterpoise correction and discussed.

Performance enhancement of a dye-sensitized solar cell by peripheral aromatic and heteroaromatic functionalization in di-branched organic sensitizers

Suppression of back reaction and enhanced photoinduced intramolecular electron transfer through peripheral functionalization of triphenylamino based dibranched donor–acceptor dyes.

Highly Twisted Dianchoring D-π-A Sensitizers for Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Two new organic dyes-BPDTA and BTTA-possessing dual D-π-A units have been synthesized, characterized, and employed as efficient sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. The two individual D-π-A, which are based on (E)-3-(5'-(4-(bis(4-(hexyloxy)phenyl)amino)phenyl)-[2,2'-bithiophen]-5-yl)-2-cyanoacrylic acid unit (D21L6), are connected directly between phenylene or thiophene within linear π-conjugated backbone to constitute a highly twisted architecture for suppressing the dye aggregation. The new dianchoring dyes exhibited pronounced absorption profile with higher molar extinction coefficient, which is consistent with the results obtained from density functional theory (DFT) calculations. The theoretical analysis also indicated that the charge transfer transition is mainly constituted of HOMO/HOMO-1 to LUMO/LUMO+1 that were found to be located on donor and acceptor segments, respectively. Theoretical calculations give the distance between two binding sites of 19.50 Å for BPDTA and 12.04 Å for BTTA. The proximity between two anchoring units of BTTA results in superior dye loading and, hence, higher cell efficiency. The BTTA-based device yielded an optimized efficiency of 6.86%, compared to 6.61% for the BPDTA-based device, whereas the model sensitizer D21L6 only delivered an inferior performance of 5.33% under similar conditions. Our molecular design strategy thus opens up a new horizon to establish efficient dianchoring dyes.

New indole based co-sensitizers for dye sensitized solar cells exceeding 10% efficiency

In this work, we report the molecular engineering and synthesis of three novel indole co-sensitizers DBA-3, DBA-4 and DBA-5 with D–D–A (donor–donor–acceptor) architecture.

Eugenic metal-free sensitizers with double anchors for high performance dye-sensitized solar cells

A series of new phenothiazine-based dyes (HL5-HL7) with double acceptors/anchors have been synthesized and used as the sensitizers for highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Among them, the HL7-based cell exhibits the best efficiency of 8.32% exceeding the N719-based cell (7.35%) by ∼13%.

Biindole-based double D–π–A branched organic dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Novel biindole-based double D–π–A branched organic dyes have been designed and synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells.

High-performance dye-sensitized solar cells based on phenothiazine dyes containing double anchors and thiophene spacers

A series of new push-pull phenothiazine-based dyes (HL1-HL4) featuring various π spacers (thiophene, 3-hexylthiophene, 4-hexyl-2,2'-bithiophene) and double acceptors/anchors have been synthesized, characterized, and used as sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Among them, the best conversion efficiency (7.31%) reaches approximately 99% of the N719-based (7.38%) DSSCs fabricated and measured under similar conditions. The dyes with two anchors have more efficient interfacial charge generation and transport compared with their congeners with only single anchor. Incorporation of hexyl chains into the π-conjugated spacer of these double-anchoring dyes can efficiently suppress dye aggregation and reduce charge recombination.

Dye-sensitized solar cells based on organic dual-channel anchorable dyes with well-defined core bridge structures

In stereo, where available: A new approach towards dye-sensitized solar cells is based on dianchoring structural motifs with two donors, two acceptors, and a core bridge donor as a spacer. Their high molar absorption coefficients result in favorable light-harvesting efficiencies for DSSCs based on these dyes. A high conversion efficiency of 4.90 % is achieved when using dye DC4, containing a core bridge carbazole unit, with a multifunctional coadsorbent.

Arylamine organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Arylamine organic dyes with donor (D), π-bridge (π) and acceptor (A) moieties for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs) have received great attention in the last decade because of their high molar absorption coefficient, low cost and structural variety. In the early stages, the efficiency of DSCs with arylamine organic dyes with D-π-A character was far behind that of DSCs with ruthenium(II) complexes partly due to the lack of information about the relationship between the chemical structures and the photovoltaic performance. However, exciting progress has been recently made, and power conversion efficiencies over 10% were obtained for DSCs with arylamine organic dyes. It is thus that the recent research and development in the field of arylamine organic dyes employing an iodide/triiodide redox couple or polypyridyl cobalt redox shuttles as the electrolytes for either DSCs or solid-state DSCs has been summarized. The cell performance of the arylamine organic dyes are compared, providing a comprehensive overview of arylamine organic dyes, demonstrating the advantages/disadvantages of each class, and pointing out the field that needs to reinforce the research direction in the further application of DSCs.

Photophysical and electrochemical properties, and molecular structures of organic dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells

Dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) based on organic dyes adsorbed on oxide semiconductor electrodes, such as TiO(2), ZnO, or NiO, which have emerged as a new generation of sustainable photovoltaic devices, have attracted much attention from chemists, physicists, and engineers because of enormous scientific interest in not only their construction and operational principles, but also in their high incident-solar-light-to-electricity conversion efficiency and low cost of production. To develop high-performance DSSCs, it is important to create efficient organic dye sensitizers, which should be optimized for the photophysical and electrochemical properties of the dyes themselves, with molecular structures that provide good light-harvesting features, good electron communication between the dye and semiconductor electrode and between the dye and electrolyte, and to control the molecular orientation and arrangement of the dyes on a semiconductor surface. The aim of this Review is not to make a list of a number of organic dye sensitizers developed so far, but to provide a new direction in the epoch-making molecular design of organic dyes for high photovoltaic performance and long-term stability of DSSCs, based on the accumulated knowledge of their photophysical and electrochemical properties, and molecular structures of the organic dye sensitizers developed so far.

Substituent effect on the π linkers in triphenylamine dyes for sensitized solar cells: a DFT/TDDFT study

A series of metal-free organic donor-π bridge-acceptor dyes are studied computationally using density functional theory (DFT) and time-dependent DFT (TDDFT) approaches to explore their potential performances in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Taking triphenylamine (TPA) and cyanoacrylic acid moieties as donor and acceptor units, respectively, the effects of different substituents of the π linkers in the TPA-based dyes on the energy conversion efficiency of the DSSCs are theoretically evaluated through optimized geometries, charge distributions, electronic structures, simulated absorption spectra, and free energies of injection. The results show that the molecular orbital energy levels and electron-injection driving forces of the TPA dyes can be tuned by the introduction of substituents with different electron-withdrawing or -donating abilities. The electron-withdrawing substituent always lowers the energies of both frontier orbitals, while the electron-donating one heightens them simultaneously. The efficiency trend of these TPA derivatives as sensitizers in DSSCs is also predicted by analyzing the light-harvesting efficiencies and the free energies of injection. The following substituents are shown to increase the efficiency of the dye: OMe, OEt, OHe, and OH.