Through structural isomerism: positional effect of alkyne functionality on molecular optical properties

Abstract

Literature studies on the effects of alkyne functionality in manipulating the optical properties of donor-π-acceptor-type molecular scaffolds have been scarce compared to those on the alkene functional group. Here, two structurally isomeric donor–acceptor (D–A) dyes were synthesized to study the positional effect of alkyne functionality (triple bond) on their optical, electrochemical and charge generation properties in order to design efficient dyes for possible application in dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). These dyes, named CAPC and PACC, contain carbazole and cyanoacrylic acid as the donor and acceptor units, respectively, and the π-conjugation length within the molecules was controlled by the introduction of an alkyne group. The D-π-A design was followed in designing CAPC with the alkyne serving as the π-spacer, while in PACC, alkyne was placed on the donor, which was directly in conjugation with the acceptor. This rendered equal conjugation lengths within the designed dyes. With the help of photophysical characterizations, it was concluded that CAPC featured better characteristics for a DSSC dye than PACC. Our conclusions were further supported by the results of transient absorption spectroscopy, electrochemical analysis, fluorescence lifetime studies and density functional theory.