Donor-free oligothiophene based dyes with di-anchor architecture for dye-sensitized solar cells

dos Santos, J. M., Tanaka, E., Wiles, A. A. , Cooke, G. and Robertson, N. (2021) Donor-free oligothiophene based dyes with di-anchor architecture for dye-sensitized solar cells. Molecular Systems Design and Engineering, 6(5), pp. 381-389. (doi: 10.1039/D1ME00009H)

Abstract

Traditionally, metal free DSSCs are fabricated from sensitizers designed using a donor-pi-acceptor (D-π-A) architecture. More recently, non-conventional dyes without strong donor units have emerged and have provided competitive power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) with respect to their (D-π-A)-based counterparts. Here, we report the synthesis and DSSC fabrication of oligothiophene molecules featuring two anchoring groups that do not possess strong donor moieties and are able to adopt V- and U-shape conformations. PCEs of 3.70% was obtained with the smaller 5-thiophene dyes (5T2A, 5T2A-E) possessing higher PCEs than their larger 8-thiophene counterparts containing diacetylene units (8T4A, 8T4A-E). Comparison to the DSSC properties of the analogous linear dye 5T, indicates that the architecture and structure of this series of dyes are likely responsible for their lower performance.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Cooke, Professor Graeme and Wiles, Dr Alan and Dos Santos, Mr John Marques
• Authors: dos Santos, J. M., Tanaka, E., Wiles, A. A., Cooke, G., and Robertson, N.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Chemistry
• Journal Name: Molecular Systems Design and Engineering
• Publisher: Royal Society of Chemistry
• ISSN: 2058-9689
• ISSN (Online): 2058-9689
• Published Online: 17 March 2021
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2021 The Royal Society of Chemistry
• First Published: First published in Molecular Systems Design and Engineering 6(5): 381-389
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License

Project Code	Award No	Project Name	Principal Investigator	Funder's Name	Funder Ref	Lead Dept
141731		Physical organic chemistry - opportunities in synthesis, materials and pharmaceuticals	Graeme Cooke	Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)	EP/E036244/1	Chemistry