Issue 7, 2016

‘Donor-free’ oligo(3-hexylthiophene) dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

The common trend in designing dyes for use in DSSCs with iodide-based electrolyte is based on a donor–π spacer–acceptor (D–π–A) architecture. Here, we report two ‘donor-free’ cyanoacrylic end-functionalized oligo(3-hexylthiophene) dyes (5T and 6T). Despite having no donor group, both dyes show reversible first oxidation process. Both 5T and 6T have n-hexyl alkyl chains to retard aggregation at different positions as well as different numbers of thiophene moieties. However, the dyes showed similar absorption properties and redox potentials. The DSSCs based on these dyes give power conversion efficiencies of more than 7%, although a significant difference in the VOC and FF has been observed. Using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, this is attributed to the presence of more trap states when 6T attaches to TiO2 and modifies the surface, mainly affecting the fill factor. Overall, these dyes introduce a new and effective design concept for liquid-electrolyte DSSC sensitisers.

Graphical abstract: ‘Donor-free’ oligo(3-hexylthiophene) dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
11 Nov 2015
Accepted
14 Dec 2015
First published
16 Dec 2015
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016,4, 2509-2516

Author version available

‘Donor-free’ oligo(3-hexylthiophene) dyes for efficient dye-sensitized solar cells

Y. Hu, A. Ivaturi, M. Planells, C. L. Boldrini, A. O. Biroli and N. Robertson, J. Mater. Chem. A, 2016, 4, 2509 DOI: 10.1039/C5TA09133K

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