Molecular engineering of starburst triarylamine donor with selenophene containing π-linker for dye-sensitized solar cells

Abstract

A series of new D–π–A organic photosensitizers 7a–7d featuring a novel starburst electron donor unit and uncommon selenophene containing π-linker were synthesized, characterized, and applied for fabrication of dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs). Dyes 11d–13d with thiophene or phenyl ring as the π-linker also were synthesized for comparison. The best power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 6.67% was attained for 11d with a relatively high open-circuit voltage (V_oc) of 0.825 V using conventional I⁻/I₃⁻ redox electrolyte in DSSCs, and this value reaches about 84% of the device based on standard dye N719 (7.91%) under the same device fabrication conditions. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and open-circuit voltage decay (OCVD) were applied to verify the findings. All the results suggest that starburst electron donor design strategy can be used to minimize dye aggregation on TiO₂ and to slow down the charge recombination kinetics in DSSCs to improve the photovoltaic performance. Effects of using selenophene as the π-linker building block on the photovoltaic parameters also were explored and evaluated.