Ullazine Donor-π bridge-Acceptor Organic Dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Yanbing Zhang; Hammad Cheema; Louis McNamara; Leigh Anna Hunt; Nathan I Hammer; Jared H Delcamp

doi:10.1002/chem.201800030

Ullazine Donor-π bridge-Acceptor Organic Dyes for Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells

Chemistry. 2018 Apr 17;24(22):5939-5949. doi: 10.1002/chem.201800030. Epub 2018 Mar 24.

Authors

Yanbing Zhang¹, Hammad Cheema¹, Louis McNamara¹, Leigh Anna Hunt¹, Nathan I Hammer¹, Jared H Delcamp¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Mississippi, University, MS, 38677, USA.

PMID: 29461663
DOI: 10.1002/chem.201800030

Abstract

A series of four ullazine-donor based donor-π bridge-acceptor (D-π-A) dyes have been synthesized and compared to a prior ullazine donor-acceptor (D-A) dye as well as a triphenylamine donor with an identical π-bridge and acceptor. The D-π-A ullazine series demonstrates an unusually uniform-in-intensity panchromatic UV/Vis absorption spectrum throughout the visible region. This is in part due to the introduction of strong high-energy bands through incorporation of the ullazine building block as shown by computational analysis. The dyes were characterized on TiO₂ films and in DSC devices. Performances of 5.6 % power conversion efficiency were obtained with IPCE onsets reaching 800 nm.

Keywords: donor-acceptor systems; dye-sensitized solar cells; dyes; molecular engineering; panchromatic.