Synthesis and photophysical properties of phosphorus(v) porphyrins functionalized with axial carbazolylvinylnaphthalimides

Abstract

We have synthesized new D-A-D type phosphorus(V) porphyrin derivatives 1 and 2 functionalized with axial carbazolylvinylnaphthalimide units. The absorption bands of the obtained phosphorus(V) porphyrins were in the range 250–640 nm with high molar absorption coefficients, meaning strong light-harvesting abilities. Notably, it is found that the devices based on phosphorus(V) porphyrins with a configuration structure of [ITO/PEDOT : PSS/organic active film/LiF/Al] give an incident-photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE) response. The maximal IPCE value reaches 2.76% for the device based on compound 2, which is much higher than that of 0.20% for compound 1. The reason might be due to the low oxidation potential and the strong light-harvesting ability of the enlarged conjugation of the axial units in compound 2. Therefore, we deduced that photo-induced electron transfer happened in phosphorus(V) porphyrins bearing axial conjugated donor units, which would make them good candidates for photovoltaic materials that could be applied in solar cells.