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 …