Dyes and Pigments, Volume 114, March 2015, Pages 175–183. Simona Urnikaite1,2, Maryte Daskeviciene1, Robert Send3, Henrike Wonneberger3,Algirdas Sackus1,2, Ingmar Bruder3, Vytautas Getautis1
1 Department of Organic Chemistry, Kaunas University of Technology, Radvilenu pl. 19, LT-50254 Kaunas, Lithuania
2 Institute of Synthetic Chemistry, Kaunas University of Technology, Radvilenu pl. 19, LT-50254 Kaunas, Lithuania
3 BASF SE, Carl-Bosch-Str. 38, 67056 Ludwigshafen, Germany
Abstract
D-D-π-A architecture metal-free organic dyes, containing a hydrazone moiety as an auxiliary donor were designed and synthesized for solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. The sensitizer series was designed to develop a structure-property relationship. These dyes were obtained from the relatively cheap starting materials, without the use of expensive catalysts, rigorously anhydrous or oxygen-free conditions. The highest solid-state device conversion efficiency 3.9% (JSC = −7.9 mA cm−2, VOC = 760 mV) and fill factor 0.65 under 100 mWcm−2 (AM 1.5G) solar irradiation were achieved with the dye D3 containing a methoxy group attached to the triphenylamine donor unit employed between the hydrazone moiety and rhodanine acceptor of the sensitizer.