The effect of bulky electron-donating thioether substituents on the performances of phthalocyanine based dye sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A series of novel phthalocyanine derivatives with bulky electron-donating thioether substituents were synthesized in order to investigate the effect of sulfur atoms on the solar-cell performances of zinc–phthalocyanine based dye-sensitized solar cells. Incorporation of sulfur atoms onto the phthalocyanine periphery resulted in a red shift of the absorption spectrum. In terms of solar cell performance, using sulfur atoms decreased quantum efficiency probably due to lower injection efficiency caused by the symmetrical electronic structure and lower excited state level.