Asymmetric double donor-π-acceptor dyes based on phenothiazine and carbazole donors for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract Four organic dyes with asymmetric double donor-π-acceptor system were designed, synthesized and utilized in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), where phenothiazine and carbazole were introduced as double donors, butyl or octyl chain as the linker and cyanoacetic acid or rhodanine acetic acid as the electron acceptor. The design of double donor-π-acceptor system contributes to a distinctive increase of the molar extinction coefficient and benefits light-harvesting capability of these dyes. Due to superior electron injection efficiency, CPC-series dyes with cyanoacetic acid acceptor exhibit broader IPCE spectra and high IPCE responsive value compared with rhodanine-3-acetic acid acceptor, leading to higher J SC . Long alkyl chain favors antiaggregation effect and low charge recombination rate is observed for dyes with octyl chain which display higher V OC than those with butyl chain. Among four dyes, dye with octyl chain and cyanoacetic acid acceptor exhibits the highest short-circuit photocurrent density (9.64 mA cm −2 ) and open-circuit photovoltage (720 mV), leading to the best overall power conversion efficiency of 4.76%.