D-?-A conjugated polymer dyes-covered TiO2 compact layers for enhancing photovoltaic performance of dye-sensitized solar cells
By Xiong, Shaohui; Wang, Yan; Lin, Jianjian; Yu, Xiaoyun; Tao, Jian; Wu, Yingying; Yu, Guipeng; Pan, Chunyue; Yamauchi, Yusuke
Published in Synthetic Metals
2018
Abstract
Three donor-conjugated units (triphenylamine (TPA)) and phenothiazine (PTZ))-side chain acceptor (cyanoacrylic acid (CAA)) donor-?-acceptor (D-?-A) conjugated polymers with different conjugated units (thiophen and/or 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene) were rationally designed and synthesized. The electronic properties and energy levels could be effectively tuned via methodically altering the conjugated units of the resulted polymers (PTPAPTZ, PTPAPTZ-1 and PTPAPTZ-2). Regulating the molecular orbital energy levels can be considered as a direct and effective method to get bathchromic and broad spectra shifts in polymer dyes. Photoelectrochemical cells based on the dye sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) format were fabricated putting the polymers as sensitizers. Device based on PTPAPTZ-2 exhibits a power conversion efficiency of 4.71% with short circuit photocurrent density of 10.8 mA