Synthesis of multi-donor dyes and influence of molecular design on dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

Multi-donor incorporated organic dyes were designed and synthesized and their structure–property relationship was investigated in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Five N,N-disubstituted aniline donor groups along with carbazole and thiophene secondary donors were combined into the (D)_n–π–A design with cyanoacrylic acid as the acceptor. The dyes showed broad absorption bands with absorption maxima in the range of 470–485 nm and optical band gap around 1.94–2.37 eV. Our results indicate that incorporation of bulky groups and bent-type architecture helps to improve the performance of DSCs.