Dithienopyrrolobenzothiadiazole-based metal-free organic dyes with double anchors and thiophene spacers for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract Five new dithienopyrrolobenzothiadiazole (DTPBT)-based organic sensitizers were prepared for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). In this work, DTPBT unit was used as a donor to construct mono- and di-anchored metal-free organic sensitizers for the first time. The DTPBT unit applied as a donor or a π-spacer in mono-anchored dyes (W1 and W2) greatly influences the absorption range, HOMO-LUMO energy level and the solar cell performance of the dyes. The results show that the DTPBT unit is more suitable for acting as a π-spacer in D-π-A dyes. Di-anchored dyes exhibit broader photo-spectra response and higher molar extinction coefficients than those of the mono-anchored dyes. Di-anchored dyes W4 and W5 with DTPBT as the donor, thiophene as the π-bridge achieve high power conversion efficiencies of 7.93%, 7.98% with 1 mM CDCA as the co-adsorbent, respectively. The results suggest that the DTPBT moiety is a promising donor candidate to develop efficient double anchored organic dyes for DSSCs.