Dithiafulvenyl unit as a new donor for high-efficiency dye-sensitized solar cells: synthesis and demonstration of a family of metal-free organic sensitizers

…, X Lu, Y Qiu, Z Liu, J Sun, F Yan, W Guo, S Yang

Index: Guo, Kunpeng; Yan, Keyou; Lu, Xiaoqing; Qiu, Yongcai; Liu, Zhike; Sun, Jianwei; Yan, Feng; Guo, Wenyue; Yang, Shihe Organic Letters, 2012 , vol. 14, # 9 p. 2214 - 2217

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Citation Number: 68

Abstract

This work identifies the dithiafulvenyl unit as an excellent electron donor for constructing D− π–A-type metal-free organic sensitizers of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). Synthesized and tested are three sensitizers all with this donor and a cyanoacrylic acid acceptor but differing in the phenyl (DTF-C1), biphenyl (DTF-C2), and phenyl–thiopheneyl–phenyl π- bridges (DTF-C3). Devices based on these dyes exhibit a dramatically improved ...