0000000000027904
AUTHOR
Zu-sheng Huang
Correction: Phenothiazine-based dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Correction for ‘Phenothiazine-based dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells’ by Zu-Sheng Huang et al., J. Mater. Chem. C, 2016, 4, 2404–2426.
Effect of structural engineering of π-spacers on anti-aggregation of D–A–π–A dyes
In this paper, the encapsulated insulated molecular wire (EIMW) and 2′,7′-bis(hexyloxy)spiro[cyclopenta[2,1-b:3,4-b′]dithiophene-4,9′-fluorene] (SPDF) were specifically designed as efficient anti-aggregation π-bridges for two novel D–A–π–A metal-free sensitizers (IBT1 and IBT2). Compared with the reference dye IBT3 with 3,3′-dihexyl-2,2′-bithiophene (DHBT) as an anti-aggregation π-bridge, both the dyes IBT1 with EIMW and IBT2 with SPDF as π-bridges can suppress intermolecular aggregation more efficiently. The π-bridge of SPDF shows the strongest anti-aggregation ability due to the rigid ‘T’ configuration among these dyes. Meanwhile, the π-bridge of EIMW shows better anti-aggregation ability…
Dithienopyrrolobenzothiadiazole-based organic dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Four novel D–π–A metal-free organic dyes DTP1–4 containing a dithienopyrrolobenzothiadiazole (DTPBT) unit were synthesized and applied in dye-sensitized solar cells, where DTPBT was employed as a π-spacer for the first time. The photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of the dyes were systematically investigated. The dyes DTP1–4 showed broad absorption spectra and high molar extinction coefficient, resulting in high light harvesting efficiency. In addition, the impacts of donors and the thiophene unit as an additional π-spacer were also studied. The results showed that the dye DTP4 with triphenylamine as the donor exhibited better photovoltaic performance than DTP1–3 with…
Dithienopyrrolobenzotriazole-based organic dyes with high molar extinction coefficient for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Abstract Four novel organic dyes DT1-DT4 containing a dithienopyrrolobenzotriazole unit were synthesized and applied in dye sensitized solar cells, where dithienopyrrolobenzotriazole moiety was introduced as a π-spacer for the first time. The four dyes exhibited good light harvesting efficiency with high molar extinction coefficients and broad spectral response. The influence of the different electron donor on the photovoltaic performance was evaluated. The effects of the linear and branched alkyl chains in the π-bridge on the photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic performance were systemically investigated. The results show that branched alkyl chains are better than linear alkyl c…
Metal-free organic dyes with di(1-benzothieno)[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole as a donor for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells: Effect of mono- and bi-anchors on photovoltaic performance
Abstract Four novel metal-free organic dyes WL1a-b and WL2a-b containing di(1-benzothieno)[3,2-b:2′,3′-d]pyrrole (DBTP) as electron donor were synthesized and applied for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), where DBTP was firstly employed as a donor in the organic dyes. It has been demonstrated that the dyes WL with DBTP as a donor show better photovoltaic performance than the reference dye PTZ with phenothiazine as a donor. In comparison with WL1a-b with one cyanoacrylic acid as mono-anchor, WL2a-b with two cyanoacrylic acids as bi-anchors show a broader light absorption on the TiO2 film and higher molar extinction coefficients in solution, resulting in higher power conversion efficiency. …
Impact of the position isomer of the linkage in the double D–A branch-based organic dyes on the photovoltaic performance
Abstract Three organic dyes with double D–A system were synthesized and applied in the dye-sensitized solar cells. These dyes contain phenothiazine as an electron donor and cyanoacetic acid as an acceptor/anchor. Linkages were incorporated at the ortho-, meta- and para-positions and their impact on the performance of photovoltaic was observed. Among them, the dye with a para-position linkage exhibited the highest short-circuit photocurrent density (12.26 mA cm−2) and open-circuit photovoltage (756 mV), leading to the best overall efficiency (6.14%) due to better light harvesting capacity under standard global 1.5 AM conditions. Under similar measuring conditions the dyes with ortho and meta…
Phenothiazine-based dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
As an emerging photovoltaic technology, dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) have attracted a great deal of academic and industrial interest due to their reasonably high power conversion efficiency, low material cost and facile fabrication process. Metal-free organic dyes, as one of the key components of DSSCs, play a pivotal role in light harvesting and electron injection. Among the various species of organic dyes, easily tunable 10H-phenothiazine-based dyes hold a large proportion. The electron-rich nitrogen and sulfur atoms render 10H-phenothiazine a stronger donor character than other amines, even better than triphenylamine, tetrahydroquinoline, carbazole and iminodibenzyl. On the other h…
Phenothiazine dye featuring encapsulated insulated molecular wire as auxiliary donor for high photovoltage of dye-sensitized solar cells by suppression of aggregation
Abstract Two efficient dye-sensitized solar cells have been fabricated by two novel D–D–π–A phenothiazine-based organic dyes (PH2 and PH3) with an encapsulated insulated molecular wire (EIMW) as an auxiliary donor. The cell sensitized by PH2 with EIMW as an auxiliary donor shows a much higher photovoltage (Voc) relative to the reference dye PH1 without EIMW, because the former dye can inhibit dye aggregation and suppress the charge recombination effectively. The results show that the cell sensitized by PH2 with co-adsorption of chenodeoxycholic acid obtains a high power conversion efficiency, even higher than that of the cell based on N719. Thus, an effective way to increase the photovoltag…
2,3-Dipentyldithieno[3,2-f:2′,3′-h]quinoxaline-Based Organic Dyes for Efficient Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells: Effect of π-Bridges and Electron Donors on Solar Cell Performance
Five novel metal-free organic dyes DQ1-5 containing a dipentyldithieno[3,2-f:2',3'-h]quinoxaline (DPQ) unit were synthesized and applied in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), where DPQ was employed as a π-spacer for the first time. Their photophysical, electrochemical, and theoretical calculations and photovoltaic properties were systematically investigated. All the five dyes show broad photoresponse. Especially the absorption edges of DQ3-5 extend to 800 nm on the TiO2 films. The inserted electron-rich unit 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene or electron-withdrawing group benzothiadiazole (BTD) in DPQ-based dyes can greatly influence the optoelectronic properties of the dyes. In addition, the diff…
Impact of π-conjugation configurations on the photovoltaic performance of the quinoxaline-based organic dyes
Abstract Three novel quinoxaline-based donor-π-acceptor type organic dyes were synthesized and explored as sensitizers in dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The impacts of various π-conjugation configurations which contain different quinoxaline derivatives on the absorption properties, electrochemical properties and photovoltaic performances, as well as theoretical calculations have been investigated systematically. The photovoltaic performances of these dyes were found to be highly relevant to the π-conjugated configurations. In particular, the DSSC based on the dye with 2,3-dioctylquinoxaline as the spacer exhibited the highest efficiency of 8.20% with a short-circuit photocurrent densit…
Effect of the linkage location in double branched organic dyes on the photovoltaic performance of DSSCs
Two novel double branched D–π–A organic dyes (DB dyes) are synthesized to investigate the influence of the linkage location in DB dyes on the performance of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs), where phenothiazine is introduced as a donor, thiophene–benzotriazole unit as the π-bridge and cyanoacrylic acid as the electron-acceptor. The photophysical, electrochemical and photovoltaic properties of the dyes are systematically investigated. The results show that the location of the linkage unit has a small effect on the physical and electrochemical properties of the dyes. However, when the dyes are applied in DSSCs, an obvious decline of short-circuit current (Jsc) and open-circuit voltage (Voc)…
Synthesis and photovoltaic performance of dihydrodibenzoazepine-based sensitizers with additional lateral anchor
Three novel metal-free organic dyes with dihydro-5H-dibenzo[b,f]azepine as a donor and cyanoacrylic acid as an anchoring unit were designed as an innovative linear skeleton of D-D-pi-A type of organic dyes. The conversion efficiency of the derived dye-sensitized solar cells is moderate. Among them, the dye with a hydroxy group as an additional anchoring moiety exhibited the highest UV-Vis absorption with a maximum molar extinction coefficient of 24,136 M-1 cm(-1) at lambda(max) = 458 nm and the best photovoltaic performance with an overall power conversion efficiency of 4.88%, while the dye with a carboxy group as an additional anchoring moiety exhibited the lowest conversion efficiency (4.…
Synthesis and photovoltaic performance of the porphyrin based sensitizers with 2H-[1,2,3]triazolo[4,5-c]pyridine and benzotriazole as auxiliary acceptors
Abstract Two novel zinc porphyrin dyes containing either benzotriazole or 2 H -[1,2,3]triazolo[4,5- c ]pyridine as auxiliary acceptors, respectively, were synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells. These two auxiliary acceptors were firstly applied into porphyrin based dyes. The photophysical and electrochemical properties of the dyes were investigated. These two dyes show the whole visible light absorption when they are adsorbed on the TiO 2 film, which means that they are promising sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells. The absorption intensity of the triazolopyridine containing dye is higher than that of the benzotriazole containing dye, resulting in a better light harvesting. Thus…
Trilateral π-conjugation extensions of phenothiazine-based dyes enhance the photovoltaic performance of the dye-sensitized solar cells
Abstract Two novel organic dyes TLEP-1 and TLEP-2 based on phenothiazine with trilateral π-conjugation extensions were designed and synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells, where phenothiazine ring was linked with two phenyl moieties at 7- and 10-positions as the first and second π-conjugation extensions, and with furan or thiophene ring at 3-position as the third π-conjugation extension for TLEP-1 and TLEP-2, respectively. The influence of the π-conjugation extensions on the photovoltaic performance was evaluated. The cell based on TLEP-2 exhibits an impressive short-circuit photocurrent density of 14.87 mA cm−2, which is much higher than the cell based on the reference dye without π-co…
Synthesis of phenothiazine-based di-anchoring dyes containing fluorene linker and their photovoltaic performance
Abstract A new di-anchoring organic dye based on phenothiazine featuring A-D-π-D-A (acceptor-donor-π-linker-donor-acceptor) configuration with fluorene as the π linker was designed and successfully synthesized. Compared to the corresponding mono-anchoring D-A congener, this new dye exhibited a broader and stronger absorption in the light wavelength ranging from 400 nm to 600 nm and thus showed a more efficient photovoltaic performance for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). The overall power conversion efficiency (η) of this new dye in a sensitized solar cell amounted to 5.70%, which is 17% higher than that of the equivalent based counterpart (4.87%). On the other hand, the introduction of …
Double D–π–A branched dyes – a new class of metal-free organic dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Double branched donor acceptor compounds (D–π–A)2L, whose separate branches are linked by saturated chains or ring systems, are highly promising sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Their photovoltaic performance η (power conversion efficiency PCE) is higher than the η value of the corresponding single branched sensitizers D–π–A. This advantage can be attributed to the lower aggregation tendency and to the higher loading density of the chromophores on the semi-conductor surface (TiO2). Moreover, the intramolecular transfer of the excitation energy can enhance the contact time of the adsorbed dye molecules in the excited state S1 and thus reduce the unwanted charge recombinati…
Molecular design of the diketopyrrolopyrrole-based dyes with varied donor units for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells
Abstract Three types of novel diketopyrrolopyrrole-based organic dyes ( Type 1 – 3 ) with phenyl unit as an additional π -bridge and triphenylamine or phenothiazine as the donors are designed and synthesized for dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Type 1 dyes incorporating the donor segment directly to the diketopyrrolopyrrole core lead to a better electron communication between the donor and acceptor, allowing an efficient charge transfer process. Type 2 and Type 3 dyes with a phenyl unit between the donor and diketopyrrolopyrrole unit show lower delocalization of the excited state. Compared with Type 3 dyes, Type 1 dyes exhibit higher conjugated skeleton co planarity and shorter electron …